Full disclosure; my son is called Dylan after Bob and I’m a big fan of the Coens.  Chances are I was going to like this film and I do.  A lot.  I think it’s a strangely funny and charming portrait of a character who is not very easy to like.

What I love most is that it gives musical performance the space it needs to really matter.  It’s what I love about Streets of Fire (1984) and The Blues Brothers (1980).  Crossroads (1986), another Walter Hill movie, does it and Lindsey Anderson’s O Lucky Man! (1973) goes as far as cutting back to the studio where Alan Price is recording the soundtrack.

To me, these are musicals and Inside Llewyn Davis is the best film I’ve seen in a long time.