One of the first lines of dialogue featured in Inside Llewyn Davis comes when folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) tells a humble audience, “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” Such is the case for Inside Llewyn Davis, the latest film from Ethan and Joel Coen with a story that’s been told countless times before yet lives as a breath of fresh air in the current climate of cinema. The film centers on Llewyn Davis, an up and coming folk singer in the ‘60s trying to make it in the music industry. He’s grungier than what men were supposed to look like in the early ‘60s and his attitude is more cynical than the average do-gooder prevalent throughout the film. Llewyn is recovering from the loss of his former singing partner, jumping from couch to couch and doing his best to make it as a solo act. He has his fair share of baggage, including a bitter ex-girlfriend (Carey Mulligan), an unresponsive father and a stubborn cat that isn’t even his. Llewyn is largely unsuccessful in his efforts to make it big, with numerous people telling him he’s making poor decisions. This doesn’t stop him from pressing onward anyway.
