A Serious Man

Plot synopsis:
In a prologue, a Jewish man in an unnamed 19th-century Eastern European shtetl tells his wife that he was helped on his way home by Reb Groshkover, whom he has invited in for soup. She says Groshkover is dead and the man he invited must be a dybbuk. Groshkover arrives and laughs off the accusation, but she plunges an ice pick into his chest. Bleeding, he exits their home into the snowy night.
In 1967, Larry Gopnik is a professor of physics living in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. His wife, Judith, tells him that she needs a get so she can marry widower Sy Ableman, with whom she has fallen in love. Meanwhile, their son Danny owes twenty dollars for marijuana to an intimidating Hebrew school classmate. He has the money, but it is hidden in a transistor radio that was confiscated by his teacher. Daughter Sarah is always washing her hair and going out. Larry's brother, Arthur, sleeps on the couch and spends his free time filling a notebook with what he calls a "probability map of the universe".
Larry faces an impending vote on his application for tenure, and his department head lets slip that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. Clive Park, a South Korean student worried about losing his scholarship, meets with Larry in his office to argue he should not fail the class. After he leaves, Larry finds an envelope stuffed with cash. When Larry attempts to return it, Clive's father threatens to sue Larry either for defamation if Larry accuses Clive of bribery, or for keeping the money if he does not give him a passing grade.
At the insistence of Judith and Sy, Larry and Arthur move into a nearby motel. Judith empties the couple's bank accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a divorce attorney. Larry learns Arthur faces charges of solicitation and sodomy.
Larry turns to his Jewish faith for consolation. He consults two rabbis but his synagogue's senior rabbi, Marshak, is never available. Larry and Sy are involved in separate, simultaneous car crashes. Larry is unharmed, but Sy dies. At Judith's insistence, Larry pays for Sy's funeral. At the funeral, Sy is eulogized as "a serious man".
While her husband is away on business, Larry calls on his neighbor, Vivienne Samsky, whom he has seen sunbathing naked, and she introduces him to marijuana. He later dreams that he is having sex with her, but this turns into another nightmare.
Larry is proud and moved by Danny's Bar Mitzvah, unaware that his son is under the influence of marijuana. During the service, Judith apologizes to Larry for all the recent trouble and informs him that Sy liked him so much that he even wrote letters to the tenure committee. Danny finally meets with Marshak, in a brief encounter in which Marshak only quotes Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love," names the members of the band and returns the radio while counseling Danny to "be a good boy".
Larry's department head compliments him on Danny's bar mitzvah and hints that he will receive tenure. The mail brings a $3,000 bill from Arthur's lawyer. Larry decides to amend Clive's mark from F to C−, whereupon Larry's doctor calls, asking to see him immediately about the results of a chest X-ray. At the same moment, Danny's teacher struggles to open the emergency shelter as a massive tornado closes in on the school.

Tags: comedy, boring, bleak, dramatic, psychedelic, humor, philosophical, storytelling

Review:
The two major characters both find closure, and in retrospect, there is clearly a beginning, middle and end to the story the brothers wanted to tell.But the movie continues after the closure, just as life continues on a daily basis, setting up another expectation of continual uncertainty.Not being Jewish, I no doubt missed some of the double entendre and humor in the tradition.
Like the reviewer who watched "52 minutes" and turned it off because none of the characters were likable so it would be a waste of time to continue.Those who expect life to be a series of plausible outcomes, logically following some kind of cause and effect order are always disappointed by honest works of art, not to mention life itself.
The Coen brothers have developed critical acclaim for making black comedies/awkward tragedies that depict small-time people getting in way over their heads, who for one reason or another are motivated to do things out of the ordinary because the natural order of the world and society has wronged them in some way.
This story of a confused suburban Jewish man in the '60s wrestling with life's meaning is therefore an important step in the evolution of the Coens' theme-driven film-making.
Borrowing on an autobiographical context (Minnesota, Judaism, etc.) for the brothers, it moves on to greater cosmic questions but with the same quirky and ironic spirit that have garnered the Coens all their deserved attention over the last 20 years.Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is that one Coen brothers character in every movie -- you know, the innocent one who manages to suffer a seemingly unfair fate (think Steve Buscemi in "The Big Lebowski" or most recently Richard Jenkins' character in "Burn After Reading") -- only he gets to pilot this film.
The Goy's Teeth scene in particular is one of the brilliant moments where the Coen brothers let you know pretty clearly what their intentions are with the film while giving you something to laugh about.
A Serious Man, by the Coen Brothers, tells the story of a physics lecturer (Michael Stuhlbarg), Larry Goepnik, as each part of his life crumbles around him; making him question everything he once had faith in.Once again Joel and Ethan delve into ancient texts to tell a modern parable about the disconnect between religion and science using the Book of Job as their mirror tale.
One particular scene where they are tracking a shot down a hall to a crying woman as her crying gets louder, it didn't add any further character development and wasn't interesting but felt like a "Coen" shot.Thematically the film was alright, and there are some interesting things that could be analysed, but it was was underwhelming and at times a bit vague in what they were actually trying to say.
I suppose the first thing that needs to be said is that I'm not Jewish and, as such, a lot of what was obviously a deeply personal movie went over my head, and I was left feeling like an outsider, almost a voyeur.However, perhaps as a result of this I'm able to view the film more objectively.
Instead he was drawn from one catastrophe to another, on the basis that he was a good, upstanding man surrounded by stronger people.Normally in this situation we would see the character challenged and grow, but this is the Coen brothers, so it's not going to be that simple.
Instead,,we are left to squirm at the relentless nature of the man's incessant failings - a frustrating experience, particularly if you're not privy to the Jewish humour that pervades this intimate film.It seemed to me almost as if the Coen Brothers were seeing how far they can stretch their high profile.
Or larger still, is it simply a movie, like Do the Right Thing or My Big Fat Greek Wedding or any of thousands of others, about life, and love, and the struggling of one person against the woes of the world as he or she faces them, in their own context?Or is it a comedy, a really funny comedy, making fun, having fun, and rising above the tawdry enough to remind everyone, Jewish or not, of the need we all have for community and connection and continuity..
If you are reading through these IMDb reviews, you already know the general premise of the movie and have likely seen the preview, and so knowing that it is a Coen brothers movie you probably know what kind of film to expect.
One of the things I really love about this film (which others may hate) is because it basically has no plot, and is simply 90 minutes of one middle-aged man's struggles in life, with no type of resolution whatsoever.
Like that film, you are so able to relate to the main character and his problems because his issues and the people he has issues with are so genuine.And that's exactly why I call this review "a serious look at human nature." All of the great satire is in fact based closely on reality, or realistic events that we can relate to.
Some moviegoers with short attention spans will probably hate this film and wonder when the big, explosive fight scene will be or when the Adam Sandler/Will Ferrell stupid fart/gay jokes will start appearing...but of course this film is the exact opposite of typical Hollywood.Another reason why I am giving this film such a high score is because while watching this film it is clear just how much the Coen brothers simply LOVE making films, and they are only concerned with making the film their way.
Apparently you need a very good understanding of quantum physics and Judaism to appreciate this movie - maybe Albert Einstein could enjoy it.For a more average movie viewer lacking both perspectives, it appears like a professor just subject to a fairly awful life quality.
One of the best black comedies ever made was the Coen brothers' Fargo and, while the humour was very dark, there were some very positive characters in the movie.
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..."A Serious Man" is the the latest comedy by the Coens brothers's and it turned out to be one of the worst films I had the displeasure to watch this year.
Maybe you do have to be fully aware of the Jewish culture, or a big fan of the Coens brothers to actually enjoy the film but, as I stand, A Serious Man is a terrible film, that apart from the great set and wardrobe, has no redeeming qualities.2/10.
But if you can't really enjoy the folly that often accompanies matters of faith—particularly if you're a mathematician like the protagonist here,who's programmed for everything to add up—and if you aren't able to laugh at the furies of fate, this film won't sit well.I don't think one needs schooling in the Jewish faith to enjoy this movie.
Even if you can't grasp or appreciate the tone of the movie, you'll recognize wonderful film-making, particularly in the work of Roger Deacons' stark cinematography (I don't know why the 1960's seem to be appropriately shot in hard-focused, hyper realism with saturate colors, but it always evokes the era), and then there are the performances.The cast is mostly new, and certainly not from the usual Coen Brother's crew.
And The Coen Brothers concoct the world of their childhood in a post-Obama film where everything seems impossible to correct or even to fairly address, and we're asked the great moral and religious questions of man.
Add to the fact that the Coen's have their own weird spin on things and like to play with the audiences perceptions, I knew I was going to be left unsatisfied by the films ending.
Am I suppose to laugh at the punch line ending to the film that feels like one long joke?Connecting the ending of the film to the story that the one rabbi gave Larry is not hard, but does it make it smart?
The comedic elements I felt in Burn After Reading and Big Lewbowski were God knows where, or maybe it was simply hashem punishing the viewers (have to watch the movie to get that joke!) Yes, it is original, but making something original doesn't make it good just like that.
I don't want to reveal one scene, so I'll try it from the backside, so to speak.It's about a family man entering one of those swirling vortexes that life can throw at you from time to time where so many problems come at once that it becomes overwhelming.The film is beautifully framed by a parable in Yiddish, the traditions of modern Judaism and the wisdom of three rabbis.But you don't have to be Jewish.
"A Serious Man" is among their most recent efforts, and it is also among their greatest.It's a black comedy that relies more on character and situation than actual plot (somewhat like another darkly humorous Coens masterpiece, "Inside Llewyn Davis") that focuses around a middle aged Jewish father and husband whose life transforms into a storm of chaos and really, REALLY bad luck.
Those wonderful characters that you remember from The Big Lebowski, Fargo, or Raising Arizona are nowhere in A Serious Man.The directing is lackluster and unimpressive with few out-of-the-ordinary camera shots and many that look like they could come out of any pretentious art-house film.The Coen brothers have said that the opening scene of the film has no meaning - they are wrong.
Co-directors and co-screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen have won their reputation of "artists" by pulse, since they always seem more interested in satisfying their own tastes and idiosyncrasies than in covering the generic commercial requirements from modern cinema.As a result, their movies are usually received with a mixture of automatic acclamation and confusing uncertainty of their intentions and objectives.And if that happened with accessible films such as No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading, I cannot even imagine how divisive their most recent film, A Serious Man, will be.In the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen bros.
made a modern (and very free) adaptation of The Odyssey, written by the Greek poet Homer.Now, with A Serious Man, they made an equally open interpretation of the biblical book which tells Job's misadventures, who suffered many calamities inflicted by Satan to prove his faith in God (or something like that).Besides, according to testimonies from the filmmakers, they also incorporated auto-biographical elements in the screenplay (but they had also told us that Fargo was based on true events, so who knows?).The result is a parsimonious, confusing and very boring portrait of the life of a Jewish family in a town from the United States during the late 60's.I will not deny that there are solid performances and some ingenious analogies in A Serious Man; but the narrative is so monotonous that it tested my patience and my faith in the talent from the Coen bros.For 106 minutes, I had been waiting for that scene, that moment which would magically unify the elements from the plot on a narrative catharsis which made me to say: "Yes!
I now understand everything!".But that moment never came.Instead of that, we have an abrupt and very unsatisfactory ending.While I was watching A Serious Man, I lead to the conclusion that this movie requires erudition about the Torah, the Jewish culture, their rituals and the symbolism which garnishes its parables and stories.My knowledge about those subjects are limited to the TV series Seinfeld and various movies from director and screenwriter Woody Allen; and I only recognized the reference to a "dybbuk" in A Serious Man because I remembered the horror film The Unborn (which is an exorcism movie, but on a Jewish context).So, on the one hand, I am sure I missed messages from this movie; but on the other hand, I do not think it is fair for a movie to require the spectator so many knowledge about the subjects it portraits.So, in summary and by my point of view, A Serious Man is a tedious, self-indulgent, unsatisfactory and even antipathetic film experience which left me frustrated.I will not deny the Coen bros.
As a caveat to the summary title, let me say this movie may be enjoyed by a niche market of Coen brothers die hard fans, people of the Jewish faith and superstitious people who feel a genuine inability to influence the outcome of the events of their own life.This film is an example of the outcome of staring at ones own navel too intently for too long.
"A Serious Man" is no exception, but is still exceptional in its own way.And when you line up all the films the siblings made before, especially "No Country for Old Men", the highlight of their career, crowned with a Best Picture Oscar, you realize that a more personal film, one revisiting the Coen brothers' Jewish roots, was overdue.
He's a man of dysfunctional seriousness, with an unfaithful wife, a pot-smoking teenage kid, a superficial daughter and a mentally-advanced yet socially-awkward brother (Richard Kind) And we're left in mystical puzzlement: if God exists then He simply doesn't like Larry, maybe this is the curse inherited from the Jewish fable that opens the movie, suggesting a curse that might have struck his ancestors.
Let me start with the lady killers watch-able but not great, No country for old men again over hyped (just because it did not give the expected Hollywood ending), Burn after reading very average (with Brad Pitt asked to act above his abilities) and then there is A Serious man a rambling story about an average Joe in crisis, as a viewer I did not find myself engaging with any of the characters or the situations they were put in.
If I could describe this picture in less than 1000 words or 10 lines my review will stop right here after the one word description "BORING" but I must explain myself, I usually enjoy the Cohen brother movies, but this one, is just that, is uninteresting, has no real drama or made me laugh, I was holding the remote the whole time, tempted by the fast forward button, but I resisted the urge and sat thru the whole thing, and let me tell you, do your laundry instead of the grass grow...
If the writer-producer-editor-directors are going to play with themselves this much, I think they owe me a handy too.I am seriously worried about the Coen team that brought us such excellent films as Blood Simple, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and No Country For Old Men. The recent Burn After Reading was just OK, and then this stinker is plain awful.It amazes me that people get so hung up on searching for the symbolism in the movie, as if that is somehow important.
Here are the reasons I say that: first, the trailer in its own way presents a musical composition to us; second, the opening scene presents roughly the same time period and place; third, the story takes place in an almost exclusively Jewish community; fourth, the main character Larry is dealing with comparable family troubles and trying to find answers from God; and fifth, look at the poster.Now the Jefferson Airplane song Somebody to Love figures prominently into the movie too as does ceremonial Hebrew music for Larry's son's bar mitzvah.
The suburban Jewish Professor Lawrence 'Larry' Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is facing problems is his life: his wife has just asked the divorce; one Korean student has tried to bribe him to improve his grade; he crashed his car on the road; his next door neighbor has trespassed his lawn; his sick brother moved to his house disturbing his family.
If you're a Coen Brothers fan, this is for you.The film starts back in the old country, when a man tells his wife that he ran into someone while outside, and she says, "we're cursed." Why?
A Serious Man is a black comedy set in 1967 and centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel when his wife prepares to leave him, his brother lives with him because he's a person who can't support himself, his son is involved in drugs and money problems and his daughter is only concern in her social life and looking for a solution Larry seeks advice from three rabbis.
Much like the Coens' previous film, Burn After Reading, A Serious Man feels like the sort of movie that leaves you a tad disappointed at first, but which could really benefit from a second viewing.
Several media reviews have called "A Serious Man" the Coen brothers most Jewish film.
From Blood Simple through to No Country For Old Men, I have found their movies range from good to brilliant, but with A Serious Man, I felt like I was watching someone tell an 'in-joke', the kind of joke that every one else (the critics) are laughing at and you feel you should be to...but you just don't get it.The story of a 60's Job, Larry Gopnick, who has everything go wrong at once then finds his life going downhill from there, A Serious Man has many of the hallmarks of a Coen brothers, quirky characters, darkly comic bits and a skewed view of the foibles of life.
And in this movie, the Coens did just that and that's take a simple man like Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) and put him in an endless cycle of torment, for serious or comedic effect.
So i watched the Coen brothers "A serious man", well was it a good movie well....