A new film from the brothers Coen is always much more than “just another film” but rather a cinematic event and has been ever since they made their mark with their brilliant Blood Simple back in 1984. Twenty-five years and 13 movies later, the Coens are still going strong and with A Serious Man they continue to prove just how good they are.
The duo have an uncanny knack for flip-flopping between serious films and lighter, perhaps more purely enjoyable fare. Among the latter are the infinitely rewatchable The Big Lebowski (my personal favourite), the zany Raising Arizona and Hudsucker Proxy, and last year’s star-studded Burn After Reading. While the more serious work is often harder to be described as “fun," it ultimately offers more rewarding things. These films include the likes of Fargo (still their best film), Barton Fink (one of their most underrated works), and the aforementioned Blood Simple.
A Serious Man definitely joins the serious camp and not just because of the name. Although the trademark witty dialogue and easy-on-the-eyes cinematography by Roger Deakins may suggest otherwise, this is a focused and often deadly serious film (not quite as serious as No Country for Old Men, but still) about the puzzling, often unanswerable nature of the questions of life, your worth amongst the people around you, and the utter confusion and pointlessness that most of us feel at some point.
After a strange five-minute opening sequence set years before the main body of the story (done completely in Yiddish), the film moves onto the character of Larry Gopnik, played perfectly by Michael Stuhlbarg. His life is becoming quite a mess, from his wife wanting a divorce and openly admitting she’s involved with another man (“Sy Ableman?!”) to someone mysteriously sending anonymous letters to try and stop him from getting tenure. Larry doesn’t know why this is happening to him – “I’ve tried to be a serious man,” he proclaims – or what to do about it, and at the suggestion of several people he decides to visit a rabbi (or three, as it inadvertently turns out).
Article comments
1 - Heloise
Hi Ross, good review I mean mini synopsis of every other Coen bros movie but this one.
I too saw and reviewed A Serious Man and good thing. You didn't say a darn thing about this movie LOL. Yes, it was also over Chris' head as he freely admitted. But since Heloise is a Jewish culture junkie she gets it.
I was just watching 2005 "Everything's Illuminated" and it looks like the Coen brothers lifted the character from this very funny Jewish cultural flic from that film and placed him as the main character the physics prof in A Serious Man.
I have seen a few Coen bros movies but not all because they love to throw in violence to make their point. I understand the ending better now too. It is rooted in the "national revelation" tip I was talking to Ruvy about.
Cheers