Anyone who knows anything about the Coen brothers will know just how integral music is to their filmmaking. They take their love for all things jingly jangly to the next level with this, their latest film.

Although an extremely talented musician, Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) is struggling with his career. He's not helped by the fact that his musical partner, with whom he had some success, no longer works with him and Davis is finding it hard to find his own audience in New York City in 1961.

On top of that, he's also finding it tough just getting a roof over his head, having to rely on the kindness of friends and relative strangers.

Taking a meeting with his agent, Davis comes to the conclusion that he doesn't really have much faith in him. If he's going to make it in the music world, it looks like he's going to have to go it alone.

Though his agent promises he has sent his music to a mogul in Chicago, Davis isn't so sure, so he embarks on a trip to the Windy City in an attempt to get noticed. He's not kidding himself though, as he realises this could either make or break him and his career in music. So no pressure then.

If only we had swivel chairs so we didn't have to look at them when they sang...

Just as it's well documented that the Coen brothers have a real passion for music, it's also known that they have their own unique approach to filmmaking. It's all about angles with them; how they're going to approach a subject and get it up on the big screen in their own imitable style. Let's face it, only someone like the Coens could make a film about folk music worthwhile.

One of the ways they do this is with story; the film is set over a period of a week, and after a while you really get a sense of where Davis is at in his life. He's got the attitude, but it's the belief in himself that is sorely lacking. Then you have the rich characters he interacts with, many of whom make the film, such as jazz musician Roland Turner, played by Coen regular John Goodman.

Probably one of their greatest achievements is to get an audience to listen to folk music. Let's face it, no one in their right mind would intentionally sit down and listen to a folk song, and yet the Coens make their audience do just that. One of the ways they make it more palatable is by filming the music and the musicians live as it happens on screen. In doing this, it almost makes the audience feel as if they're part of that particular gig, experiencing the nuances of a live performance as it happens.

It also helps having Oscar Isaac on board; it's difficult to express in words how darn lucky the Coens were in picking a leading man who could do the job musically as well as emotionally. Isaac, whose career is to imminently go galactic as he's been cast in JJ Abram's Star Wars Episode 7, delivers an exceptionally subtle performance. On top of that, he can carry a tune too. He's also ably supported by Carey Mulligan as the ex love interest and a dapper looking Justin Timberlake who can certainly pull off the folk singer look.

What the Coens have produced isn't just a love letter to folk music, it's more than that; Inside Llewyn Davis is a folk song, one that just so happened to have been filmed. It tells its story of a down on his luck singer, told in muted tones, and kind of leaves you as quietly as it arrived.

Even if you're not a fan of folk – and let's face it, who is these days – not to worry, because a story told by the Coens is always worth watching, and this is no exception.