The best film of the 2010's so far

Rating: 10/10 (8 March 2016)

Inside Llewyn Davies was one of those films that just stayed with me for days. It was by far one of the best films of 2013 and it definitely should have gotten more recognition during the awards season.
This film was directed by the Coen brothers (who comprise of Joel and Ethan Coen), of whom I am a big fan of as they can incorporate a large amount of different styles into the same picture.
The story centres on Llewyn Davies (Exquisitely played by Oscar Isaac), a budding folk singer who is trying to get out there and known in a pre-Bob Dylan Greenwich Village in the 1960's. In his words he does not want to merely 'exist'. He ends up being tangled in various different forms of problems involving his fiery ex-lover Jean, his overly complimentary friends the Gorfien's and a brilliantly over-the-top song about not wanting to go to space in a 1hr 40min escapade of very fine filmmaking. Now the Coen's have already showcased their talent for film-making as well as writing and this film feels like the most Coen brothers film yet. This film just seems to showcase all of which the Coen's are great at and for that reason I love it to pieces.
The Story in this film is a beautiful flowing narrative of 1 week in Llewyn's life, with none of it feeling forced or added as filler. This film can draw a lot of parallels with their 2000 film "O Brother Where Art Thou", with strong uses of music and also the use of the Greek Odyssey for storytelling elements. You know that part in a lot of films where the character is in complete crisis and are back to square one with seemingly no way of things going right for them? Well that is pretty much the whole of Inside Llewyn Davis but trust me, it is fantastic! Now what I loved so much about this film was how the Character of Llewyn Davis is written. He is an incredibly rude man with a short temper, strong use of profane language and a habit of "Turning everything he touches into sh*t". Despite this however, the audience can't do anything but feel for him, this is where the amazing use of music comes into the equation, music in this film is where we can sympathise with Llewyn and find something to like in him. Now, I think that is down to two things; 1, these are one of the only times that he seems emotionally open. And 2, how the character has been written for present day audiences, his dry and sarcastic sense of humour and the very subtle taste of contemporary style in the folk songs that he sings. This makes the audience feel the blow when he is told for what seems like the millionth time that he hasn't got what is wanted. The music is performed live which really enhances the feel.
Now the performances in this movie are all fantastic. Oscar Isaac really brings the dry, sarcastic, rude but endearing complex that is Llewyn but he's backed by some real talent. Carey Mulligan's beautiful and blisteringly angry Jean, Justin Timberlake's overly smiley and optimistic Jim, John Goodman's smug elitist Roland Turner and Garret Hedlund's lone wonderer are all masterfully done with hints and nuances that only heighten on the second watch.
The film only really has one issue with it, and that is that there is a scene where an A Capella group sing the song "The Auld Triangle". This scene is sold to be live, like all of the others but the group are clearly miming and I have no idea why the original group who sung the song (Punch Brothers) didn't do it live instead. As much as this did take me out of the film for a bit, it did not however dampen my thoughts on it, I still love it! I would also like to add that the film on a purely technical level is also absolutely brilliant, the cinematography is beautiful, with a slightly dulled but effective gradient being used to nicely showcase Llewyn's outlook on life.
This film is definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of Folk music, or interesting stories and I can't recommended it more.