A man, a cat, folk music. No, this isn’t some witty palindrome; instead, these words are the three recurring images that Joel and Ethan Coen exhibit in their latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis.

First things first, the man in question signifies struggle, embodied in Greenwich Village folk singer and protagonist Llewyn Davis. Things would be going well for Llewyn, except that his musical partner recently jumped off the George Washington Bridge, his (now) solo career isn’t going as planned and he has no definite place to rest his head on any given night. To top things off, he can’t seem to get through a day without screwing things up and people over. As much as Llewyn tries, he just can’t get a lucky break; the reality that many musicians today also face.

Meanwhile, cats in the movie seem to outline Llewyn’s hardships. In one of the opening scenes, he wakes up to a cat on his chest while at a friend’s house, which follows him out the door and into his care. The cat initially runs away, but things look up when Llewyn spots him wandering the streets outside a coffee shop. When he returns the cat to the owners however, it’s “not even a boy(!)” and once again, the continuous cycle of letting others down rears its ugly head again. After a failed trip to Chicago in hopes of finding a sustainable gig, the cat has miraculously returned, like Llewyn, home.

Whether or not the cat is meant to actually represent Llewyn himself can be debated (and has been), but the similarities between the lives of feline and folk musician in the story uncannily are there.

Ultimately, Inside Llewyn Davis has a lot to say, but if you’re looking for happy endings, you’re better off watching a Disney movie. The unresolved struggle that sticks around all the way up to the film’s dazed and dark closing scene feels more relatable than if a blissful, career-defining moment was documented for our starving artist instead.

Life is full of struggle after all, and Inside Llewyn Davis isn’t afraid to be honest about the fact that not every day ends in a celebration for everyone.