inside llewyn Davis
C4 1.00am - 2.40am ★★★★
Comedy drama ⊲ Deftly observed, touchingly melancholy and slyly funny, the Coen Brothers’ tale of a talented but ornery musician trying to make it on the folk scene in wintry 1961 New York is surprisingly affecting. Oscar Isaac’s Llewyn is so stubbornly independent, so wilfully self-sabotaging, that you feel he can’t possibly win your sympathy, but almost imperceptibly he gets under your skin. The music is pitch perfect throughout, and so are the performances, from Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan’s folk-singing couple to John Goodman’s sneering junkie jazzman. Dirs: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen 2013, 15, 100min