Disappointing and over-rated

Rating: 5/10 (14 September 2019)

The title character is a struggling folk singer in New York's Greenwich Village in the early 1960s. His many troubles lead him to bum favours off many people. "Inside Llewyn Davis" is directed by the Coen brothers.
This film has a handicap like other recent films such as "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "Blue Jasmine" - the main character is very unlikeable. The other films have various strengths to overcome and rise above this handicap but this is not the case with "Inside Llewyn Davis".
Though Oscar Isaac does well in the main role, his character is hard to take for various reasons. Despite his desperate situation, he lives in the delusion that he is superior to those who don't share his bohemian lifestyle aspirations. He also shows little or no gratitude to those who do great favours for him.
As his journey includes negative karma hitting home (in typical Coen schadenfreude fashion) with only a few moments of humour and warmth, this makes for difficult viewing. He's not all bad. Some scenes do show signs of a deeper humanness but they are too few. The other characters don't fare much better. The only characters that might generate empathy are cats.
With little humour or charm to lighten the ride, thankfully the music is the most uplifting part of this film. Isaac is a superb singer and he performs great songs beautifully as do the film's other musicians. The film could also be given credit for using cinematography and other aspects to recreate an era long gone.
There are living folk singers who remember the time and place depicted in this film. They have criticized this movie for failing to convey the warmth and friendliness that were a part of this scene. It's a relief to know that things were better than what they seemed in this movie.