Movie #79 "A Serious Man" --- can I start this one by saying that it's a Coen brothers film that is somewhere in between Raising Arizona, tied with Fargo (the best) and Barton Fink (the worst, tied with No Country for Old Men). I've seen them all. My theory about them is that they are trying to make a movie in every genre. So the way to describe this? This is their Jewish black comedy. I loved the humor in it ---- I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood so it was like old home week for me --- I "got it" humor and all. It's man in a mess, and a mess that is sent from somewhere "up above"???? maybe. But watching this mensch trying to deal with all that is thrown his way, is way too funny (but quirky funny --- I don't want to give the wrong impression). Why is it a 4 and not a 5? That's an easy one --- this needs an ending. I know, it doesn't have an ending for a reason (like the frogs in Magnolia) but I still like a nice neat package and this wasn't one. It needed more of an ending so we could know with more finality what the point of the film was. But boy, the photography by Deakins was top notch. Always is. I recommend it only to those who like quirkiness --- this is the closest indie film they've done (lately, they've been trying to be in the mainstream) but it's not going to be the cult favorite like the Big Lebowski, and it won't be quoted in the future like some of their others, but that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed in the NOW.
Average rating: 3.873
I rated it 4 stars
A Serious Man
(2009) R
Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) has hit a "rough patch," according to a colleague, and it would seem so: people are dropping dead all around him, his wife (Sari Lennick) wants a "get" and his whining kids (Aaron Wolff and Jessica McManus) only add to the heavy load. Larry is just looking for some help. Can a few rabbis guide him to life's answers? Richard Kind co-stars in Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's 1960s-set, dark Jewish-culture send-up.
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