Inside Llewyn Davis (15)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

5 Stars

The Coen brothers are back with a deeply felt yet entertaining new feature.

Inside Llewyn Davis, loosely based on the life of singer-songwriter Dave Van Ronk, follows the fictional Davis over a seven-day period in 1961.

That was in the period just before Bob Dylan, an admirer of Van Ronk, hit the big time.

The latter was certainly no loser but the Coens use him as a metaphor for the misunderstood artist whose sizeable talent always lagged behind his personal failings and bad luck.

The film shows Davis trying to make money from his music in Greenwich Village, where he encounters a New York of diverse cultures and classes.

By turns sensitive, angry, depressed and broke, he carries his guitar from apartment to apartment, sleeping on couches and outstaying his welcome.

He gets into trouble for speaking his mind, boos an elderly woman performer at one of her gigs, gets beaten up and, at one point, even shouts: "I am a communist."

But in a world that does not understand him he's prepared to abandon his dream and return to work as a seaman.

The tragi-comic script, with its focus on a lost world of folk music, is brilliantly written and the period detail is spot-on. The directors give the music room to breathe, with the songs reflecting Davis's solitary existence and his struggles to survive.

And this heart-warming tale of ideals and artistic realities is also a wonderfully rounded and entirely satisfying character study.

Classic Coen brothers.