Inside Llewyn Davis (/ˈluːɪn/) is a 2013 period black comedy drama film written, directed, produced, and edited by Joel and Ethan Coen.

The supporting cast includes Carey Mulligan, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, Justin Timberlake and Adam Driver.

Though Davis is a fictional character, the story was partly inspired by folk singer Dave Van Ronk's autobiography.

Inside Llewyn Davis has been held in high critical esteem since its release, being voted the 11th-best film of the 21st century in both a 2016 BBC poll and a 2017 The New York Times list.

Llewyn tries to make an appointment for the abortion, only to learn that payment will not be necessary because he already paid for the same procedure two years earlier on behalf of another woman who kept the child without informing him.

Driving while the car owner sleeps, he hits a ginger cat; it limps into the woods as Llewyn watches from afar.

Well before writing the script, the Coens began with a single idea, of Van Ronk being beaten up outside of Gerde's Folk City in the Village.

They employed the image in the opening scenes, then periodically returned to the project over the next couple of years to expand the story using a fictional character.

[11][12][13] The character is a composite of Van Ronk, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, and other musicians from New York City who performed in the Village at that time.

On an animal trainer's advice, the Coens put out a casting call for an orange tabby cat, since they are sufficiently common that several could play one part.

[17][18] Dave Van Ronk's music served as the Coens' starting point for the script, and many of the songs first designated for the film were his.

[12][15][21] Burnett previously worked with the Coens on the soundtracks for The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the latter of which sold about 8 million copies in the United States.

[10] The humorous novelty song "Please Mr. Kennedy", a plea from a reluctant astronaut, appears to be a fourth-generation derivative of the 1960 song "Mr. Custer", also known as "Please Mr. Custer", about the Battle of the Little Bighorn, sung by Larry Verne and written by Al De Lory, Fred Darian, and Joseph Van Winkle.

In 1962, using a similar theme, The Goldcoast Singers recorded "Please Mr. Kennedy" on their album Here They Are, with writing credits to Ed Rush and George Cromarty.

Critic Janet Maslin, listening to the soundtrack, mistook Timberlake's voice for Mulligan's, which she thought resembled that of Mary Travers).

The critical consensus states: "Smart, funny, and profoundly melancholy, Inside Llewyn Davis finds the Coen brothers in fine form.

[35] A. O. Scott noted similarities between Davis and Van Ronk but wrote it's "not a biopic, it's a Coen brothers movie, which is to say a brilliant magpie's nest of surrealism, period detail and pop-culture scholarship.

To put it another way, it's a folk tale...An important character is named Ulysses, whose ancient wanderings inspired O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coens' earlier venture (also in the company of music supervisor T Bone Burnett) into American vernacular musical traditions...But since this is a Coen brothers film, it is predestined that Llewyn will fail and that we will laugh both at and with him as he deals with a world full of cretins, including the one he sees reflected in the windows of the subway train...I won't speculate further on what Inside Llewyn Davis might mean.

"[36] Writing for The Village Voice, Alan Scherstuhl praised the film: "While often funny and alive with winning performances, Inside Llewyn Davis finds the brothers in a dark mood, exploring the near-inevitable disappointment that faces artists too sincere to compromise—disappointments that the Coens, to their credit, have made a career out of dodging.

[38] Leigh Singer of IGN gave the film a 10 out of 10 'Masterpiece' score, saying "Don't be fooled by the seemingly minor key ... this is one of the finest works by—let's just call it—the most consistently innovative, versatile and thrilling American filmmakers of the last quarter-century.

Terri Thal, Dave Van Ronk's ex-wife, said, "I didn't expect it to be almost unrecognizable as the folk-music world of the early 1960s.

"[40] Suzanne Vega said, "I feel they took a vibrant, crackling, competitive, romantic, communal, crazy, drunken, brawling scene and crumpled it into a slow brown sad movie.

[41][42] At a press interview before the premiere at Cannes, the Coens said Davis was an original creation, and that the music was the major influence they had drawn from Van Ronk.