Create a party
Create a club
| Cast: | Michael Stuhlbarg , Richard Kind , Adam Arkin |
| Directors: | Joel Coen , Ethan Coen |
| Released: | October 2, 2009 |
"A Serious Man" is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and "F-Troop" is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman, who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person -- a mensch -- a serious man?
I love Coen brothers movies. I am prepared before I see them to expect the unexpected. I am also prepared to be disappointed that the moral of the story isn't spoon-fed to us and that often, the movies leave you yearning for more. A Serious Man met all these expectations. It was messy with human condition, disturbingly dark in parts, and laughed at itself in all the right places.
Whether or not you love Coen brothers movies, you will find much to appreciate in the film if you're a fan of dark comedy or films that reveal the human condition in a touching and self-deprecating way.