I didn’t like it.  It’s “hero” is anything but.  It’s too realistic.  There’s no catharsis, no lights-on moment for it’s star.  And yet, Inside Llewyn Davis may be the best Cohen Brothers movie yet.  Yes, I’ve seen The Big Lebowski.  Yeesh.

I say this because Davis is a film that not only casts an unflinching eye on exactly how rough it was to be a folk singer pre-Dylan, it makes fun of the whole horrible mess.  From couch-hopping because you’re broke to the narcissism being a performer inevitably contains, Inside Llewyn Davis shows the star-maker machinery in all it’s ugly glory.  Better still, it shows that not everyone who wants to be a star can make it, even if they’re dragging themselves through the worst of life in hopes for that one big break.

And Llewyn Davis doesn’t mind the rough stuff.  In fact, he kinda seems to live for being disappointed.  He’s an artist, dammit, and that should count for something.  Unfortunately, his friends, lovers and the music executives he tries to impress expect more.  Y’know, like humanity, empathy, a solid ability to hear constructive criticism and bend to it.  Davis doesn’t want to push past his own bubble of self-absorption, so that leads to many uncomfortable, comically tragic scenes.

As the wannabe Big Star, Oscar Isaac gives a masterful performance.  He’s damn talented on the guitar, with a voice that seems made for the folk/bluegrass/old-school country genre. Isaac also breathes life into what could have been a one-note performance.  Not that there’s any catharsis and rising from the ashes for our forlorn folkie; Davis would rather fail than “sell out”.  But by showing exactly how focused on himself Davis is, and how he always reverts to the idea that everything must be sacrificed for The Ideal, Isaac gives us a hero that’s without any real worth, aside of his enormous talent.  There’s no feeling from him regardless of the situation.   Knocked up your best friend’s girl?  Meh.  Lost your friend’s cat?  Hit another cat on the road?  The Music must be followed; can’t spend time on silly things like that.  He’s reprehensible, and yet you understand what’s going on in his head, and why he’s making those choices.  You may not agree, but to take Chris Rock out of context, you understand.

The characters that surround Llewyn Davis — and this is a Cohen film, so they’re all characters — are played by a few of the usual “touring company” the Cohen brothers have amassed over the years, and a few newbies that fit right in.  Justin Timberlake does a great job of portraying the ernest folkie Jim, so much so that I could imagine the album cover from a Folks Greatest Hits compliation.  Carey Mulligan, as Jim’s wife Jean, is a folkie’s wet dream; a dazzlingly beautiful girl with a voice like an angel.  Of course Davis treats them both like garbage, but Jane’s knowledge of the “piece of shit” makes for several bittersweetly humorous moments.  John Goodman, as Jazz musician Roland Turner, is all Blues Brothers by way of pimp street, and it’s glorious.  And F. Murray Abraham as music exec (and Davis’ one big chance) Bud Grossman does more to teach folks about the shift from music to money in the 60s with his brief time onscreen than a lot of documentaries about the period do in two hours.  “I don’t hear any money there.”

Like Don Draper in Mad Men, Llewyn Davis is so stuck in his own life that he can’t (or won’t?) see whats going on all around him.  So when Dylan takes the stage at the end of the movie — or is it the beginning?  The Cohens love a good twisted timeline — Davis can’t even sit back and notice that the times, they surely are a’changin’.  Oh well, even if he noticed, he’d have hated it.  And because of that ability to take a character through the whirlwind of the early 60s folk movement and have no last-minute Scrooge-like epiphany?  I love it.

P.S.: know what else there is to love about this film?  The documentary Another Day, Another Time on Showtime.   It’s a huge throwdown of musical talent sheparded by none other than T. Bone Burnett.  I wanna see this again, I want the album, I want it all.  If, unlike me, you aren’t a big fan of folk, bluegrass or blues, you will be after this.  Or you’re dead inside.  Yeah, I said it.