A Serious Man (2009)

The expectation: This is a Coen Brothers film. A scholar just published a book dissecting their films called "The Coen-verse". And these films are like that- they have their own style, their own pace, and yet still manage to be unique within the Coen formula. They are strange, often without traditional narrative coherence, but still funny and lighthearted. They capture your attention without knowing why, and they take a few days, a discussion with others (and maybe a few screenings) to fully and adequately digest. I expected the same out of this film as can be found in the brilliance of No Country for Old Men and Burn After Reading. In the Coen-verse, the only order that can be found is the one we make for ourselves- filled with the ridiculous and the sublime, rife with misunderstanding, and capitalized on by bad choices fr ought with good intentions. It is in the "bad deeds of good men" that we are led as humans. And that has its own consequences.

The result: Larry Gopnik is a physicist who lives in Minnesota with his wife and two children. He is up for tenure, his wife has left him, he has been offered a bribe by a student, and his son is preparing for his bar mitzvah. With the suburbs as a fittingly bland background, the film is shot to capture the mundane and it succeeds in its quiet nature, allowing no room for successful answers to the larger issues at stake in life- the issues that Larry faces. This film, more than any of the others, uses as its base the overwhelming significance of religion in creating meaning for the individual- here, Judaism specifically. Gopnik faces obstacles, not with courage and fortitude, not with despair and apathy, but with a measured casualness that points to his reliance on his religious beliefs, his historical and religious upbringing, and his understanding of and adherence to society's rules. Through this, he accepts- no matter the pain or wrongdoing. His frustration is great comic fodder- especially wrapped in the bland hauntingly quietness of the film. He grapples with his failure, after full compliance in the religious and social systems of our day- and does, finally get an answer that is both unfair and cruel. And ultimately, the larger life decisions he makes are not as important as the smaller ones he misunderstands. And yet, there is still no rational, tangible formula to learn from. We are all adrift with a set of rules we must contend with only after they have chosen vengeance and made themselves apparent- no matter how serious of a man we might be. Absolutely brilliant- I have to go watch it again.

What to look out for:
The presentation of the suburbs- colors, pace, sets, music.
The quiet of the film- and its affects on your neighbors. Look around during the film and watch everyone in their own uncomfortableness.
The props in the Rabbi's office- they foreshadow, they comment, and they inform.
Jefferson Airplane?

Flickr photo by futureatlas.com