A meditative comedy

Rating: 9/10 (30 December 2013)

Writer/director/brother duo Joel and Ethan Coen have always been really hit and miss for me (I loved "No Country for Old Men" and hated "The Ladykillers", "Raising Arizona" and truly believe "The Big Lebowski" is one of the most overrated films of all time) but "Inside Llewyn Davis", with all of its dry and metaphysical humor, is a homerun.
Nearly void of plot, "Inside Llewyn Davis" is sort of a "day (more like a week) in the life of" story of a relatively homeless folk singer named Llewyn (Oscar Isaac). We follow him as he loses the neighbor's cat (which becomes a living, breathing motif throughout) asks for money, deals with the fact that he may have gotten a woman who hates him (played by Carey Mulligan) pregnant, does session work, rides around in a car with two characters (John Goodman and Garrett Hedlund) whom resemble Pozzo and Lucky from "Waiting For Godot", and toys with quitting the folk scene for a regular 9 to 5. Now clearly, while this doesn't sound like much in the way of entertainment, that Coen magic somehow makes this little movie one of the best of the year.
Finally, Oscar Isaac will get the recognition that he deserves! Yes, as you would probably imagine, the music in this film is great (the soundtrack is worth buying) thoroughly capturing the folk scene in Greenwich Village in 1961. But it is the performances from Isaac, which demands an Oscar nomination and Mulligan, who spends the entire supporting role with a consistent sour puss expression on her face only rivaled by Cate Blanchett's Jasmine, and the intelligent, true-to-life, self deprecating sense of humor which stems from the Coen's immensely clever and incredibly deep conversationally driven script, which deals with issues of relationships, questioning when is it OK to give up on ones dream and a smattering of enlightened ramblings from simple looking characters, as only the Coen's can depict.
Final Thought: At the end of the day, it's hard to pin down a clear cut reason as to why I thought "Inside Llewyn Davis" was so brilliant or why it resonated so much with me. So, I'm going to stop trying.