A Seriously Confusing Movie
Last night I got a chance to finally see the new Coen Brothers loosely-autobiographical flick, “A Serious Man”. I have to say that I have never been disappointed in a Coen Brothers joint and I am consistently impressed how they reinvent themselves. I think they do a great job of defining what good contemporary big budget film should be. However, I must admit that I was completely lost for the vast majority of the picture.
A Serious Man revolves around the very suburban and mundane life of family man named Larry Gopnik. Larry experiences a number of unfortunate events throughout the movie and tries to maintain composure and himself as a “serious man” while looking for answers to what it all really means from his local Rabbis.
This flick taught me just how little I know about Judaism. If you know as little as I do about it I would recommend seeing this movie with someone that does. I’m sure there were a hundred jokes and clever references that flew right over my head (as the obnoxious knee slapper beside me kept trying illustrate the whole movie). However, despite my obvious confusion I still really enjoyed it as it was incredibly well tied together with a very ‘Coen’ nervous tension throughout that kept me on the edge of my seat.
(**SPOILER ALERT!**) The ending is probably the best example of pathetic fallacy since Shakespeare and is absolutely epic. Jaws dropped and people were in serious discussion after it was all over.
All in all, I’m not sure exactly what I saw, but I know I liked it.
- Dr. No
October 26th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Oh Mars got beat!
October 26th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Crook, I was thinking the exact same thing.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I sat on my review for a week and just never got the motivation to finish it. But I agree with Dr. No about the ending. Me and Caffeine Powered talked about this ending for awhile. The X-Ray and Tornado come in as he’s changing Clive’s grade. GOD’S WRATH!!!
It’s so distracting to me when they say the name of the movie in the movie…here “A Serious Man” was said four times.
But I still loved it.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Also, I also didn’t get half of the Judaic references. It didn’t take away anything from the movie though.
Michael Stuhlbarg was amazing and I hope this leads to a lot more roles for him.
October 26th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
It’s actually Larry Gopnik, but that doesn’t change a lot. I never felt lost while watching the film, and I don’t know dick about Judaism. In fact, I think that helps.
When Judith (Larry’s wife) is talking about having a Get, Larry doesn’t know what it is. When it comes up a few other times, no one knows what it is. I think it’s the Coens showing how religion is so overwhelming that there is shit that even Rabbis don’t know. If not for Inglorious Basterds this would be my favorite movie of the year thus far.
October 27th, 2009 at 3:12 am
Thanks Patrick! Been revised.