Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

The truly interesting thing about Inside Llewyn Davis is that not only is it a film about a folk singer, but the film itself is a folk song. The characters and situations are all perfectly in keeping with the kinds of tales one might hear in a Greenwich Village coffee house of the time. As Llewyn himself says, "It's never new and it never grows old". Even the film's structure mirrors that of a folk song. You open with a theme/hook, then you wander off on this odd little journey with these broken characters for a while, and just when you think things are about to change (maybe for the better?) you find yourself back at the hook. Chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus - it's a cycle that can't be stopped. The hook always brings you back. Even when the singer stops singing, the cycle continues throughout their life. The same songs each night, over and over. It's never new and it never grows old. And though the tale may be tragic, it sure is beautiful to listen to.