A Serious Man a Seriously Wonderful Masterpiece
Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a physics professor at an unnamed Midwestern university circa 1967 waiting to find out if he’s received tenure. If that wasn’t enough to worry him a seemingly quiet South Korean graduate student (David Kang) is attempting to bribe him for a passing grade, the redneck next door (Peter Breitmayer) wants to infringe on his property line while his other neighbor the vivacious Mrs. Samsky (Amy Landecker) loves to silently torment him by sunbathing in her front yard nude.
Michael Stuhlbarg in Focus Features' A Serious Man
But these aren’t the worst of Larry’s problems. Turns out his longtime wife Judith (Sari Lennick) is leaving him having fallen in love with the pompous Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed). On top of that, his nebbish unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is in trouble with the law thanks to a secret mathematical formula only he seems to understand, his soon to be bar mitzvahed son Danny (Aaron Wolff) has bully problems due to a marijuana problem and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is taking money out of his wallet to secretly save up for a nose job.
Looking for answers Larry proceeds to attempt to see three different rabbis for advice, hoping their words of wisdom can alleviate his worries and set him back on the right path. But the answers he receives are almost as bothersome as the problems themselves, making him wonder if trying to be a good, righteous and serious man is worthy of all the fuss.
Joel and Ethan Coen (Burn After Reading, Fargo) are back at it again with their latest dramatic comedy A Serious Man, a sensational and complicated character study that is arguably their most personal film yet. It is also one of their most difficult to deconstruct. Is the movie a treatise on faith? Personal responsibility? Familial mores? Or, is it simply a nifty little throwaway about overcoming strife and trudging on in spite of turmoil?
I think a case can be made for all these ideas and more, the way the film affects the viewer having more to do with their own personal viewpoints and ethical ideas (as well as probably their age and their religious views) than it does anything else. The Coens have made something distinct and original, a movie that works on a multitude of levels totally unique to every person in the audience. It takes no prisoners, cuts no corners and isn’t afraid to broach controversy, the brothers assuming viewers are going to have the intelligence to go with them no matter how odd or unusual their chosen path might ultimately prove to be.
But getting past all of that, I just personally found A Serious Man to be seriously entertaining. From the bizarrely loopy and unhinged macabre prologue, to the positively brilliant last seen just before the cut to the end credits, this movie shows the Coens’ to be right at the very height of their powers. Would I rank it as high on my personal list as say Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Blood Simple or Raising Arizona? I can’t really say, but what I can admit is that especially after a couple of more viewings I’m pretty much positive it’s at the very least going to be involved in the conversation.
There is a lot I want to say but at the same time I find myself thinking this is a movie that must be experienced with as little pre-knowledge about its intricacies as possible. The performances, most of which are by relative newcomers, veteran character actors and Coen regulars, are spot-on across the board, while frequent collaborators composer Carter Burwell (Twilight) and cinematographer Roger Deakins (Revolutionary Road) deliver up to their usual high standards.
When all is said and done I think what I want people to know is that this film is another reason the Joel and Ethan need to be in the discussion when discuss important working American directors. Over the last 30-plus years they have delivered time in and time out, showing a broader range and larger scope than arguably any other auteur not named Spielberg. For my money, they’ve hit the mark more often and with better accuracy than Scorsese, Coppola, Soderbergh and that Schindler’s List filmmaker combined, A Serious Man both a reminder of their talent and a terrific entertainment both at one and the same time.
Film Rating: êêêê (out of 4)
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