Inside Llewyn Davis - 6 stars out of 10

Inside Llewyn Davis - 6 stars out of 10

“Inside Llewyn Davis” is a creative period piece that portrays the 1960’s folk music scene.  The story meanders through the frustrating life of Llewyn Davis, who simply cannot find success in spite of his great talent.  The twists and turns of the story build an empathetic connection to the main character and this is the film’s downfall.  With such a strong connection to Llewyn, we need to know his fate but when it ends in ambiguity, it is simply dissatisfying.  If the Coen brothers wanted the focus of the film to be on folk music and leave the general fate of folk musicians ambiguous, that would be fine; however, Llewyn’s story becomes too important to skip the conclusion.  I appreciate the use of the story’s time loop, but this method only works when the story reveals what happens beyond the time loop.  At the end of the film, it seemed like the loop was unnecessary.  Although the film left me unsatisfied, the musical sequences are very entertaining and the acting is excellent.  While Oscar Isaac’s singing is mesmerizing, my favorite performances in the film were actually the character roles of John Goodman and F. Murray Abraham.  And of course, who knew that Justin Timberlake was such a great singer!  Oh wait... I just wish that there would’ve been more from Carey Mulligan.  I enjoyed this story but, after developing a strong connection to the main character, ending it without a conclusion is like me writing a movie review and