“Inside Llewyn Davis,” March 30, 2014 (2013), DVD. The latest from the Coen Brothers, this dark and frustrating look at the folk scene in 1961/62, and yes, it’s that precisely dated, crafts an opportunistic, unpleasant, frequently narcissistic, often cruel if true-to-the-music semi-Dave Van Ronk alter-ego (Llewyn Davis, acted by Oscar Issac—who plays his own guitar and sings) with nice work by Justin Timberlake, a rather odd turn by John Goodman as a jazz artist/addict, Ben Kingsley as Albert Grossman, and Troy Nelson as a character I can only assume to be a stand-in for Tom Paxton. The music business, the tension between being true to the music (at least his) and desiring stardom all play here and the business comes across as truly creepy. When the music, wonderfully produced under the guidance of T-Bone Burnett, is center stage, the film keeps my interest. Songs are done in their entirety, not as snippets, and the performers are good enough to keep me listening. But the vision of the scene is so dark as to be very painful. Yes its winter, but there is essentially no joy in that moment, and neither are there politics. Nor are there any black artists. This is the rebirth of the traditional folk scene as a business in the Village joined to a road movie through the sterility of America’s highways and clubs. And yes, I think women artists were truly treated horribly by promoters and by male artists, but this joyless scene rubs me the wrong way. Finally, and this is entirely personal, I am sooooooooo tired of cheap shots at academics. Spoiler alert: the movie, and the scene, ends with Bob Dylan performing, but like the Paxtonesque, it’s a more developed Dylan that we hear. If this review is a jumble of feelings, well, that’s the way it felt to watch it. And I like the Coen Brothers!