Cert 12A
101 mins
BBFC advice: Contains infrequent strong language
Was Inside Llewyn Davis really such a good movie that it deserved a follow-up, devoted to the inspiration for its soundtrack?
Followers of this blog may have noticed that I wasn't a fan of the Coen Brothers' film and felt that its music was rather repetitive.
As I wrote at the time: "Sure, it has an earworm song which was obviously considered so good that not only is it played throughout trailers but three times during the film. Overall the music is pretty good but the story is as weak as a two-day old kitten."
Interestingly, the feature song from the movie appears only once in this new documentary, sung by its star Oscar Isaac.
He makes another contribution from the film but otherwise the music is in the spirit of Llewyn Davis rather than directly from the picture.
T-Bone Burnett brought together a splendid collection of artists at New York City Hall to perform as if they were jamming around a campfire.
This means that superstars such as Marcus Mumford and Jack White are given no greater prominence that lesser-known acts such as The Punch Brothers and Gillian Welch.
They all perform with gusto on stage in a one-off concert but it is the back-stage camaraderie and, subsequent, jamming which really got my toes tapping.
I found it amazing how artists who don't usually play alongside each other were so easily in synch in terms of harmonies as well as melodies.
And there is a real joy about the music in a way which was completely missing from the film Inside Llewyn Davis. Therein the title character sees his talent as only a means to an end and one which reminds him of a lost best friend.
Here, in Christopher Wilcha's documentary, friendships are formed or reinforced through some quality playing and singing.
My only issue is that this movie is a bit of a freewheeler. It would have benefited from dovetailing with clips of the movie or to at least explore the inspiration for the match-ups of artists and their musical choices.
Instead, interviews with the musicians are rather superficial.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 6/10