Review of A Serious Man (2009) by Brandon W — 27 Jan 2011

The Coen Brothers have been suffering in popularity of late because they created a very tense, dark and mainstream thriller you may have heard of called No Country For Old Men. By no means a bad film, and in all likelihood one of their better one but not at all representative of their whacky, out there normal films that typically lack an ending that resolves everything nicely and gives you definite answers about the story. So when they turned around and went back to their old eccentric ways this alienated a lot of fans and created what we call backlash. Nowhere is this more prevalent than A Serious Man, a quintessentially Coen film with all the bells and whistles, a bizarre seemingly out of nowhere beginning and ending, strange dialogue possibly written while high, an unremarkable but wonderfully fitting soundtrack and a brutal mocking and unrelenting look at its menagerie of oddball characters. What separates it from other Coen films, is it feels focused, it knows what it wants and it accomplishes it right down to the smallest details and doesn't suffer from some of the weak narrative structure, out of place moments and strange airiness some of their past movies have. So basically it's all of the distinctly Coen characteristics of their early work combined with the tight, controlled and undeniably excellent filmmaking involved in No Country For Old Men. But does it really add up to a good movie or is it an overrated flop? Let's take a look, and remember you're going to be fine.

This is an incredibly personal film to the Brothers and just based off the fact they've stated it's based on the Book of Job you should be able to ascertain that an understanding of Judaism is needed to appreciate this movie. It opens in Poland in the early 20th Century, where an older Jewish man returns to his wife bringing home an older man of the village for supper. The wife is horrified as she explains that the man in question died a week ago and convinced he is therefore a dybbuk or wandering soul cursed into limbo for a serious transgression committed while alive, stabs him with an ice pick as he exits into the snow with a brief goodbye she closes the door behind him saying a brief prayer to ward off bad spirits. However our story is not to take place in Poland but in Minnesota a little while later as the credits role we hear "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane play and a 60s time period is established. Our protagonist is Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg who certainly doesn't let ego play a part of this performance) an aging Jewish professor living a complacent life in the suburbs whose wife Judith (Sari Lennick who is at times amusing in her over the top bitchiness) has fallen in love with widower Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed who is so wonderfully smarmy you want to punch him in the face everytime you see him and it's awesome) and is seeking a get. This sets off Gopnik's sad and pathetic downward spiral down the path away from "God" that while it never really leads to anything remarkable except debatably the end is still endlessly fascinating and morbidly fun to watch in what plays out into a suburbia hating Jewish American Beauty.

That's about it and the best comparison I can make, it's cruel to the suburban life too many Americans these days lead and while it's a masterfully made film that entertains and sickens all the way through it nevertheless always feels very ordinary. With the exception of underrated character actor Richard Kind as Larry's even more pathetic brother Arthur, a ne'er do well compulsive gambling bum none of the performances are that remarkable yet they all hit some note so well whether it's aging decrepit Rabbi or bratty ungrateful kids you can't help but be in awe of them. But at the same time my problem with it falls in its story and more or less mirrors my problem with Judaism. You see when you have an almighty God in your religion it's hard to maintain the facade when you claim him to be all loving and all-knowing and can call all the shots in the universe because than you have a lot to answer for when an Elementary School bus hits an ice patch going over the bridge and goes flying into the highway below before erupting into a ball or rather rectangle of fire. In theory Judaism seems to solve this problem Christians are forced to reconcile everyday by claiming that their God is an unpleasant evil bastard who has fun by torturing and testing his followers just to make sure their serious and worthy of following him. Well that's fine and dandy, certainly explains why tragic things happen but still I can't get behind or stomach the idea of some jealous tyrannical God punishing me constantly and expecting me to love, respect and unfalteringly follow him sorry I'm not a masochist. And seeing as it's based on the book of Job and the Coens are devout Jews that is the underlying message I got by the ending the two, father and son were being punished by dick God for not being solid enough in their beliefs and while that's a fine message if you subscribe to such ideas I found it detracted a but from my liking of the movie.

Still that's just my interpretation of the work that's debatably what makes it such a special movie and indeed an artful one you can complain all you want about the ending if you'd like it or you can spend hours trying to figure out what it all means and how it all fits in and end up with a personal and gratifying interpretation of the work as a whole just like a painting. That's a mark of a damn good movie and part of what makes the Coens so special they don't just spoon feed you answers and give you a brainless and fun experience they weave a character driven, mesmerizing and strange tale and they have you thinking about it long after the credits roll as opposed to forgetting it by the time you've thrown the popcorn tub away and gotten to your car. It's like a Dada piece if you feel an emotion after watching this movie it's done its job and while it's not the Coens best its one of their better and understated works and well worth the watch.