Inside Llewyn Davis is a real human being

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2014)

Llewyn Davis is such a realistic character. He experiences loss, pain, anger. He's a great guy, He's a bad guy. He is a real human being. Oscar Isaac's performance combined with some of the best writing from the Coen brothers yet gives us an accurate portrayal of a musician trying to catch a break in the 60s folk scene.
The film looks beautiful. bright whites and dark browns, blues and blacks give the film its overtly sad, depressing tone. The supporting cast all bounce of Isaac well, being the ones to encourage and discourage him from his hopes and dreams. There's also a cat, a guardian angel if you will, looking over Davis wherever he may roam. Davis tries to abandon him, he returns, its a nice little metaphor for Davis's never giving up and continuing to try and make a career out of his passion.
The songs perfectly capture the time period and just like the rest of the film, they have a down in dumps feel to them. Justin Timberlake starts in the film for what is basically a cameo, primarily singing 'Please, Mr Kennedy' which is a really catchy song and ironically becomes a hit after Davis writes it of and dismisses all royalties on the song - just an example of how much bad luck Davis has throughout the film.
One problem I have is that because Davis is such a real character, he can get mean and its because of that its hard to sympathize with him at times and maybe the Coen brothers don't want us to, but I feel that a man who has this dream and goes to great lengths to achieve it deserves our support when he does and sympathy when he doesn't.
Overall, Inside Llewyn Davis isn't the best film the Coen brothers have made. Fargo, The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou and No Country For Old Men are all films that I consider better but this film has a realistic tone that the others don't, a main character with more emotional depth than any Iv seen on screen and for that, This film succeeds.