Film Review: 'A Serious Man'

It is hard to imagine any two directors or writers in all of Hollywood who have been as consistently on their game as Joel and Ethan Coen. From Raising Arizona, to Fargo, to The Big Lebowski, to O Brother Where Art Thou, to No Country for Old Men, the Coens have shown that they are masters of their craft, and prolific ones at that, whether tackling the most serious and disturbing of material, ridiculous humor, or everything that somewhere falls in between.

A Serious Man marks their latest accomplishment in filmmaking. It is one of those films that falls in between, taking a serious look at a particular character and his family, while taking time to let the humor of life’s often inane situations find its way to the surface. As comparisons seem unavoidable, A Serious Man may not go down as the Coen Brothers’ “best” film to date, but it is another testament to the fact that as these filmmakers continue to mature, there may not be anyone else in the business honing their craft as precisely.

A Serious Man follows the mid-life journey of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Jewish physics professor at a university in Minnesota in the 1960s. He is mild mannered, serious about his work and up for tenure at the university.

But around him is life is falling apart and he doesn’t even realize it yet. His son, Danny (Aaron Wolff) is smoking pot and more concerned about watching F-Troop on television and listening to Jefferson Airplane on his Walkman-like device than studying the Torah. Larry’s brother, Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch as he works on something called the Mentaculus, a probability map that coincides with his gambling addiction, and holds up the bathroom to drain his cyst, to the chagrin of Larry’s daughter, Sarah (Jessica McManus) who seems mostly preoccupied with doing her hair. The shock of what’s going on around Larry hits when his wife, Judith (Sari Lennick), asks for a divorce, and a religious “Get,” because she has fallen for the pompous Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed).

Larry tries to find solace in his religion and visits a series of rabbis and lawyers in an attempt to find the answers, but ends up only with more questions. Meanwhile, an Asian student in Larry’s class tries to bribe him for a passing grade, and plays off the scenario as a cultural difference and communications problem, pointing out that while he doesn’t understand the math, he knows physics, which makes no sense to Larry. If this weren’t enough, Larry becomes infatuated with his beautiful next door neighbor who sunbathes nude. And faced with his own problems, Danny finds himself trying to get back his music device because he left $20 in the case, which he owes to the class bully for the marijuana he bought.

Stuhlbarg gives a brilliant performance as Larry, never overplaying the part but truly bringing forth the emotions of a man who feels he is slowly starting to lose the world around him and every attempt he makes to get it back ends in failure. He is a good man, who wants to better himself and cares for his family, but he is also flawed and perhaps takes for granted what he has until it is too late. A Serious Man touches on a number of ideas, with faith coming to the forefront, but it is easiest and more accurate to say that the movie simply deals with the questions of life.

The film at many times calls to mind the dark humor of Fargo, though very rarely with as much violence. A Serious Man has a calmer pace, letting the story unfold as the tension builds. A battle exists in this movie between the plans of man and the forces of fate, or God, and the Coens do a brilliant job at making man’s failures in the skirmishes both poignant and humorous. On top of that, there are plenty of well-scripted, genuinely funny moments, from the schoolyard innocence to the absurdities of the later years.

The Coens don’t claim to have the answers to life’s big mysteries, though they present the questions one after another in A Serious Man. In fact, though it is played as a joke in the film, the line of the Asian student’s father comes to mind for viewers who may feel unsatisfied by the film’s ending – “Accept the mystery.” Much more important than providing all the answers, A Serious Man is designed to make its audience think. And this is achieved in a manner that doesn’t feel pretentious while dealing with philosophical thematic elements. Intelligent filmgoers will realize that the ending is so much more than a cop out. A Serious Man finds the Coens once again in the upper echelon of filmmaking.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Stars

About the Writer:
Bill Jones is editor-in-chief of padsandpanels.com, a site dedicated to coverage of comics and games.