A Serious Man

A Serious Man

Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen

Venue: Landmark Sunshine Cinema, Theater 1
Review Date: October 3rd, 2009

I have always had a love-hate relationship with the Coen Brothers. I loved Oh, Brother, Where art thou?, The Man Who Wasn't There, and Fargo. The Big Lebowski and No Country For Old Men did very little for me. I hated Burn After Reading. I admit an ignorance to their early work, but I have a deep admiration for Coen Brothers. They are brilliant craftsman, and regardless of content, their films are extremely well composed. A Serious Man is no exception, in content nor in craft.

A Serious Man takes place over a series of weeks in a small Minnesota town in 1967. It details the collapse of the life of Larry Gopnik (played by theatre actor Michael Stuhlbarg, whom I was lucky enough to see play Hamlet last year in the Public Theatre's stunning production). Gopnik is a University Physics professor, a Jew, and a man who seems to never be aware of what is happening around him. His son is a pot-smoking, F-Troop-watching slacker quickly approaching his bar mitzvah. His daughter is stealing money from his wallet to fund a nose job. His constantly pouting wife(Sari Lennick, another unknown) is having an affair with serious man Sy Abelman, and his umemployed, couch-borrowing brother is constantly draining the cyst on his neck. When his tenure is threatened by blackmail, and his wife asks him for a divorce, things really start to unravel for Larry.

Sounds simple enough, but the Coen Brothers are masters of plot and irony, and they manage to bring all these elements together gracefully, hilariously, and painfully. They have written their own Job story; how much abuse can a religious man who strives only to be good take before he loses it? That's what is explored here through breathtaking cinematography (The incomparable Roger Deakins), wonderful pacing, tight performances, and strong music choices. The Coens make every shot count, and there are layers and layers to reflect upon. Take the school bully chasing down Larry's son for weed money every day after school. At first, this image plays as comedy, another moment of relief in a very dark (albeit funny) affair. But look closer, stick through to the end, and the image has an indescribable pathos that only lodges itself in your brain upon reflection. Images from the film keep coming back to me. As usual with the Coens, there's a lot of ambiguity here, and they exploit it for everything it is worth.

The technical work is magnificent, but the acting more than equals it. Stuhlbarg has somewhat of a one-note character here, but the variety and commitment which he brings to is magnificent. Richard King, as Larry's brother Arthur, brings a sadness to his usual goofy and irritating persona. Fred Melamed does comedic masterwork as the adulterer Abelman. The supporting work is a wonder; we get a sense of community and down home provincialism. It's a wonderfully constructed world.

With A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers have delivered a film that is equal to their best work. It is both hilarious and tragic, and should be remembered in the winter awards season.

4.5/5