No Direction Home. The Freewheelin' 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

I love this film; really, really love it, which is a surprise because I don't think the Coen brothers have made a wholly satisfactory film in decades.

I like them, but the plaudits for 'True Grit' didn't chime with me and 'No Country For Old Men' was astonishingly overrated. At least they had the good sense not to direct their script of the reworked 'Gambit', but even so, I was starting to think they'd 'lost it'.

If I'm being honest, I have to say that 'Inside Llewyn Davis' didn't appeal much. The story of a singer/songwriter trying to make it in Greenwich village in the early sixties sounds like a riff on the well intentioned but underwhelming folk mockumentary 'A Mighty Wind' from 2003. I was expecting a middling mix of oddball characters, forced cool and knowing, sardonic smugness.

It's not like that at all; it's a bittersweet wonder that reminded me of those early Jim Jarmuch films 'Stranger Than Paradise' and 'Down by Law'. It feels like it this one comes from the heart.

Don't get hung up on the sixties folk scene thing. This is a timeless story; intimate but epic. It should resonate with you because it feels truthful. It's a sort of feel good movie about failure, if there is such a thing.

If you've ever known someone with a talent for something, but maybe just not enough talent you'll get it. Maybe that's you. Maybe that's all of us.

The look of the film takes it's cues from the front cover of 'The Freewheelin Bob Dylan'. You'll feel the chill, but there's a human warmth to it all. This is no "hey look how clever we are at recreating the period detail of the sixties" exercise. You'll barely notice it is the sixties, as you'll just be swept up in the story. This is the Coens at their least flashy; serving the story rather than striving to impress. Llewyn Davis is not a substitute for "the Bob Dylan" story, but it does dovetail with it in a satisfying way.

The acting is masterful. Oscar Isaac is a revelation, Carey Mulligan creates a real person rather than just another part. The obligatory John Goodman cameo is very welcome. It's good to see F. Murray Abraham's formidable presence again too. 

All of them are upstaged by a cat. That wonderful, wonderful cat, that turns this shaggy dog story into something feline and elusive. The Coens can be too cynical and cruel to take at times and whilst there is some misanthropy here, there is also a resigned acceptance of the melancholy of it all. It's emotional without ever being manipulative or sentimental. It's vinyl, not digital.

Maybe it just caught my mood right. Maybe it was just the perfect film for a cold, blustery February morning but I've got the feeling that me and Llewyn are going to become very good friends over the next few years.