The first time I saw “Inside Llewyn Davis,” opening today at Liberty Hall, my reaction was completely one-dimensional. The movie — which follows one key week in the life of singer/couch-surfer Llewyn Davis (Oscar Issac) as he bounces around the pre-Dylan 1961 Greenwich Village folk scene — seemed to be just another Coen Brothers’ film where the cynical writer/directors heap abuse upon their flawed main character for the sake of deadpan comedy.

With its period-specific folk soundtrack (produced by T Bone Burnett) and middle-act Homeric odyssey, it reminded me strongly of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” “Inside Llewyn Davis” also features a series of “bad” decisions that come back to haunt its title character in darkly comic ways, like pretty much every movie the idiosyncratic filmmaking duo has ever made.

But — per usual for the Coens — during a second viewing of the film, I discovered many more layers and, like “Fargo,” was able to laugh way more at Llewyn’s misfortunes because I knew where the story was headed. The music, sung largely by the cast onscreen, became lodged inside my head and the lyrics continued to inform and color the movie as I thought back on them.

After a recent third viewing of “Inside Llewyn Davis,” I can firmly say that it is one of the richest filmic experiences of the year and it should have been on my top 10.

A beautiful, up-close rendition of Isaac singing the traditional song “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” at the Gaslight Café opens the movie, the lyrics portending things to come. (Dave Van Ronk, whose memoir inspired the movie, did this tune as well.) Llewyn then comes into contact with all kinds of heightened versions of era-specific types, from the gee-whiz soldier boy folkie (Stark Sands) to the snarky, heroin-addicted jazz musician (John Goodman).

Much like the cat that he shepherds around New York City, Llewyn is notoriously independent. Haunted by the recent suicide of his singing partner but confident of his talent, he wants to establish himself as a solo act, and whether he’s trying to or not, he alienates virtually everyone he comes into contact with.

“Inside Llewyn Davis” hinges on questions of artistic integrity. Llewyn sees himself as more authentic than his peers because his version of reviving folk tradition means living like a hobo. Joel and Ethan Coen steer away from any kind of sentimentality, so any time serious discussion of concepts like “success” or “failure” — either commercially or artistically — come up, they are torpedoed like some kind of sick joke. That itself carries a special kind of poignancy.

Thanks to its pithy dialogue, its gorgeous and gloomy cinematography, its subtle debate on identity, and its infectious soundtrack, “Inside Llewyn Davis” has peculiar staying power and will reward those who choose to revisit the Coens’ version of MacDougal Street.

Also opening today in Lawrence is “Lone Survivor,” a harrowing account of a 2005 Navy SEAL operation in Afghanistan’s Kunar province that went awry and claimed the death of 19 U.S. soldiers.

The bulk of the movie’s running time is taken up by a detailed, brutal, firsthand account of the firefight itself, adapted from the book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell. As played by Mark Wahlberg, Luttrell is noble and persistent. He’s one of the the voices of reason when it comes to making a key decision that will affect the outcome of the mission (to capture/kill a Taliban leader) and the fate of his four-man troop.

What follows allows director Peter Berg to exhibit his talent for creating clear, linear cause-and-effect action scenes. The strategy of “Lone Survivor” is to approximate the reality of the battle, and it is refreshing to see that achieved without the use of handheld shaky-cam.

There’s not much time between fighting for the audience to contemplate the tricky ethical questions that surround the mission, so the film becomes a tale of courage, professionalism and persistence — things required of all Navy SEALs.