In shadowy close-up, alone on a smoky club stage in 1960s New York City, the titular Mr Davis (Oscar Isaac) sings a plaintive version of Dave Van Ronk’s ‘Hang Me, Oh Hang Me’. Accompanied only by his guitar, his stunning voice soars over the melancholy lyrics, emotion etched into his face. It’s a haunting, intimate and powerful on-screen introduction, and effortlessly sets the scene for a remarkable film that is both amusing character study and profound treatise about unrealised ambition, the cruel nature of fate and the omnipresent possibility of failure.
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