Inside Llewyn Davis

At first, I strongly identified with Llewyn Davis' struggles — I think you'd be hard pressed to find a musician who doesn't — but by the film's end, I realize not only how many of those struggles are self-inflicted, I feel as if Llewyn is going to cycle through them many more times before things pick up or bottom out. Musically, Llewyn comes across as scrappy and soulful. He's just the person I'd want singing those sad, world-weary folk songs, at least compared to the cleaner- cut performers he meets throughout the film. And yet, that soul seems to come from tragedies (the suicide of his…

Aspiring folk musician "Llewyn" (Oscar Isaac) finds himself in Greenwich Village in New York during the winter of 1961 trying to make a living from his art. He's a well known face in the clubs having been part of a jobbing duo for many-a-year, but now he is finding it much harder to crack the scene as a solo artist. His aspiration has an habit of blinding him, though, and his somewhat erratic behaviour stresses his relationships with fellow folkies "Jim" (Justin Timberlake) and "Jean" (Carey Mulligan) on whose couches he finds himself increasingly relying. To add to his woes, his manager…