Oscar Isaac, who plays Llewyn, said the script was was loosely based on the experiences of Dave Van Ronk, whose book was about how electric and fantastic the folk music scene was in the Village in the early 60’s, then there were two paragraphs about this crappy trip to Chicago, then back to how fascinating and cool everything was in New York.
“And the Coen Brothers said, let’s make a movie about that crappy trip to Chicago.”
Inside Llewyn Davis is a challenging film about being immensely talented, but hopelessly penniless, with your relationships in ruins.
The magic trick is the way the film backs Llewyn’s worst moments as a person with uninterrupted, full length, analog-recorded live performances of his moving, glorious, soulful voice.