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Down but not out: film, theatre, art and more to help deal with failure

From Oscar Isaac’s underperforming folk singer to The Good Place, Guardian critics offer up bittersweet culture for when success eludes you

Pinching together the lapels of his inadequate jacket against a freezing New York February, cat-losing folk singer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) trudges in slush-filled shoes back from a failed audition in Chicago, to fail a second time: his gig at the Gaslight Cafe becomes just a footnote to Bob Dylan’s appearance that same night. Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis kept faith with its themes by underperforming at the box office but, like the songs Llewyn soulfully performs to an audience of practically no one, its tragicomic portrait of defeat retains a lovely, sad-eyed warmth, as a rare and absurdly comforting minor-key anthem for life’s also-rans. Jessica Kiang

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