This week I was given the amazing opportunity to view a private screening of the Coen brothers’ latest movie masterpiece, Inside Llewyn Davis. The film is absolutely mesmerizing, the acting performances are Oscar worthy and the story is one that grips the viewer from the opening scene.

The story follows a week in the life of a young folk singer, Llewyn Davis (played by the amazing but relatively unknown Oscar Isaac) as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. Davis is at a crossroads, guitar in tow, huddled against the unforgiving New York winter, as he is struggling to make it as a musician against seemingly insurmountable obstacles – some of them of his own making. Living at the mercy of both friends and strangers, scaring up what work he can find. Llewyn’s misadventures take him from the basket houses of the village to an empty Chicago club – on an odyssey to audition for music mogul Bud Grossman – and back again.

The cast is fantastic with large names like Carrie Mulligan (The Great Gatsby), Adam Driver (Lincoln), Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy), John Goodman (Argo) and Justin Timberlake (The Social Network). It needs to be said Mulligan’s performance blew me away as a singer and somewhat friend to Llewyn, her character was extremely different from her last performance as the lovable Daisy Buchanan. Timberlake plays Mulligan’s husband and, of course, a musician. His performance was really interesting along with the songs he performs in the film. Driver has a very small role but I loved his character. Goodman and Hedlund play jazz musicians who Llewyn hitches a ride with on his way to Chicago, Goodman is as good as ever and Hedlund really captures the life of someone who is filled with rage due to his life.

The real amazing performance in this film though is the leading actor, Oscar Isaac. As soon as the film opens with Llewyn performing you can see the two characters are one in the same. Isaac’s performance truly captures what life was like for a struggling folk musician in 1961 right before the rise of legendary icon, Bob Dylan. I will be thoroughly surprised if Isaac does not win an Oscar for best leading actor. Adding onto his acting performance, his vocals are amazing, Isaac sings songs from the time period several times throughout the course of them movie, my favorite one being “The Death of Queen Jane,” and each performance is breathtaking along with his guitar skills. After seeing the film I immediately went online to search for the soundtrack.

Speaking of the soundtrack, the sound to the film is amazing. The music in the film is executively produced by T-Bone Burnett (musical writer of The Hunger Games, O Brother Where Art Thou and the TV series Nashville) and Marcus Mumford (lead singer from Mumford & Sons) assisted. The soundtrack to the film fully helps paint the picture of the rise and struggle of folk music throughout 1961.

All in all the film is amazing, I will go out and say that it has been the best film I have seen this year, and I am so thankful I was able to see it a week before it was released. The films reviews are incredible so far with Metacritic having given it a 94% and Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 95%. The film releases Dec – 20 so make sure you see this visual masterpiece and what is sure to be an Oscar winner.