Movie Review: A Serious Man (2009)
A Serious Man, directed by the Coens brothers, is a semi-autobiographical dark comedy that runs the usual dysfunctional family theme with a Jewish twist. The Coens, originally from Minnesota, shot the movie in Bloomington, MN after an extensive search for the perfect location around the Twin Cities.
Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a Jewish college professor of physics in Minneapolis, MN. His life gradually disintegrates as the movie unfolds. His wife (Sari Lennick) kicks him out of his own house to marry a “serious man”, family friend Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed). His socially inept brother is squatting his house, his son secretly smokes marijuana while his daughter might be stealing money from him to get a nose job. As if it wasn’t enough, one of his student blackmails him to have his failing grade changed and defamatory letters are being sent to the school as he is vying for tenure. Facing the deluge of bad luck befalling him, the weak-willed Larry seeks advice from several rabbis.
A Serious Man is a very dark comedy and I absolutely loved the ominous open ending which really reinforced the fatalistic nature of the plot. The movie, albeit not laugh-out-loud funny, is amusing thanks to its collection of eccentric characters and not so random coincidences. It’s also refreshing to see that there is a lot of substance and ambiguity that would favor repeat viewings in an era where Hollywood director feel like they have to spell out everything to the dumb masses. The relatively unknown Michael Stuhlbarg gives a very good performance as Larry but his character is mostly a one-note weak-willed man. Sari Lennick is outstanding as the delectably hateful wife while the rest of the cast acquits itself solidly as well.
One of the main problem of the film is that the main character doesn’t drive the plot but the other way around. All kind of incongruous accidents befall Larry and he does absolutely nothing about his situation except complain to some religious figures. Basically put, Larry is just laying down in the face of adversity and waiting to die. This makes it more difficult to empathize with the main character and the movie is a bit lacking in terms of emotional heart as the rest of the characters are nothing short of unlikable. Did Larry ever notice his wife unhappiness in the past? Her relationship with Abe? His son erratic behavior? His daughter’s sole concern of how her nose looks? It’s extremely unlikely that he woke up one day and suddenly, all hell broke loose. What does that tells us about this man? What kind of man would comply to move to a motel without a fight while his wife immediately replaces him with a family friend? Additionally, the movie is full of Jewish esoteric which makes it a bit heavy-handed for non-believers and I was at times lost as to what the characters were talking about. Finally, the opening sequence seems completely extraneous and all the questions raised by the film are left unanswered.
A fatalistic and ambiguous dark comedy elevated by solid performances from the cast, A Serious Man is saddled by weak, unlikable and stagnant characters who are like little ants waiting to be blown away by the wind.
B-
Notes: Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence. 106 minutes.
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15 Comments
Sounds similar in a way to No Country for Old Men, the last part of that movie made no sense at all to me. We think that there’s gonna be this huge battle between Llewelyn and Chigurh……….and a bunch of mexicans kill Llewelyn. Its like they want to play out reality exactly as it is onto film. Similar to this guy who doesn’t fight for his wife and family, like saying this is what really happens, it’s reality. Thing is I KNOW these things happen, I know reality sucks, I’d rather they show this jewish guy try to change his life or something. Good review by the way.
Welcome Jimbob!
I agree that Larry would have been more relatable if he had at least tried to fight his fate a little more. There is no explanation whatsoever for why he doesn’t. Even if they ultimately went the fatalistic way, they should have shown him trying and failing miserably at least once.
i thought the movie was decent, not great but defiitely entertaining. i just didn’t like the beginning.
I agree, very odd opening sequence that was completely unneeded I thought.
Now I’m even more anxious to see this … I’m as die-hard a Coen brothers fan as they come, but I don’t believe they can “do no wrong.” Reviews for this one have been all over the map, so I’m intrigued. Especially when you mention an “open ending.” Nobody does those as good as the boys Coen.
I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago. I felt like I was out of the loop for not being Jewish, but Michael Stuhlbarg’s performance anchored the movie for me. The ending kinda pissed me off, but I understood why the Coen did that.
I agree on feeling alienated by not being Jewish. I felt totally out of the loop when watching it.
I didn’t mind the character of Larry not trying to “fight his fate”. To me, he was a man who was lost and unsure what he was supposed to do, so thats where meeting with the different advisors comes in.
The only problem I had with this movie is that on my first viewing, it didn’t really have an identity. There were parts where I was wondering whether I was suppose to laugh or take the movie seriously. I can’t wait to watch it again, definitely one of those movies that you will need to watch more than once to fully comprehend it and appreciate what the Coens have done.
My favorite film of the year.
I think the Coens were precisely trying to play G-d and see just how much they could make their characters suffer.
It’s a fascinating experiment and a superb questioning of religion dogma, with that said Stuhlbarg is really nothing short of great.
I gotta say, with the exception of No Country, I haven’t been too hip for the Coen Bros lately. I was the only person that thought Burn After Reading was horrible. Still, I actually expected to hate this flick and ended up loving it. I was truly surprised… everyone should check this out.
Here’s my thoughts on the beginning and ending:
Beginning:
Didn’t completely get it. Thought maybe these were his ancestors who had cursed his bloodline and brought about the events of the film. Anybody get something else from it?
Ending:
While a bit obscure, I thought it was brilliant. SPOILER WARNING – I think it was meant to represent that all these bad things that both he and his son were going through, and they were horrible things, pale in comparison to true life disasters and sometimes we get caught up in things that don’t matter too easily. Anybody with me?
Great review!
My take on the ending is that man is powerless against larger powers at work (God) and he must pay for all sins, past and present. Notice that everything unravels immediately after he changes Clive’s grade and “officially” takes the bribe.
@Kaiderman – I didn’t like “Burn After Reading” either. I would BORED!
@ Castor – (SPOILER ALERT)I thought the end was that Jewish people are scared of G-d that would send a tornado or possible cancer.
This film fell along the lines of “Antichrist” for me in two ways – 1) I didn’t understand some parts of it (which made me like it a lot) and 2) It was my favorite film of 2009, along with a spot on my best of the decade list (along with Antichrist). This film is so elusive and so vague that I can’t help but be completely amazed by it.
Sy Ableman is one of my favorite film characters. My friend Peyton brought the movie over, and I wasn’t really interested in seeing it even though I am a huge Coen Brother’s fan – he told me “I was told this is one of the most mind boggling movies ever”. I thought it was bullshit. But I was proven wrong, which is the second time in my life I’ve been corrected.
So I guess I cannot make any claims that A Serious Man was not provocative, just not as enjoyable as what I had hoped after seeing the trailer. In fact, the trailer may be a much more exciting piece of film-making than the movie.
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