A Serious Man

Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a Jewish-American physics professor in 1967 Minnesota whose life seems to be unraveling by the minute. His wife (Sari Lennick) wants a divorce, his kids (Aaron Wolff and Jessica McManus) are ungrateful troublemakers, his brother (Richard Kind) is an unwelcome houseguest with legal woes, a disgruntled Asian student is threatening his job and he’s up for tenure. Unhelpful consultations with his lawyer (Adam Arkin) and several rabbis leave him wondering what it all means.

There used to be a time when “a Coen Brothers film” meant something. Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy, Fargo and The Big Lebowski shared cast members, homages galore and a darkly comedic sensibility. Nowadays, no two Coen Brothers movies are alike. No Country For Old Men broke sharply with everything (Blood Simple notwithstanding) that came before, while Burn After Reading broke sharply with No Country. A Serious Man continues the pattern by having next to nothing in common with either film. Those looking for a return to the Coen Brothers “formula” (if a fairly complex body of work can even be described as such) will be disappointed.

Fortunately, change isn’t always a bad thing. Here, the Coens delve deeply into Judaica. Larry’s plight mirrors that of Job, bits of Hebrew are sprinkled throughout the dialogue and the various rabbi characters provide insight into Jewish traditions. How much of this will appeal to gentile audiences is tough to determine. As a Jew, I found it a well-intentioned, if not always flattering, examination of the faith.

Despite the gravity of Larry’s situation (and the implications of the title), A Serious Man manages to be fitfully funny. Larry being muscled into moving into a motel, the Korean student’s father’s botched attempts at threats and bribery and a Jefferson Airplane-quoting senior rabbi are among the endearingly odd, painfully awkward highlights.

Led by unknowns, the cast manages to bolster the film’s thematic aspirations. Despite the immense sympathy generated by his situation, Stuhlbarg manages to keep Larry just a touch dislikable. Even still, he has nothing on Fred Melamed as the wife-stealing Cy Abelman, an overbearing widower who is also a “serious man.” And Kind steals scenes as the underachieving, unbalanced Uncle Arthur.

A Serious Man is a painstakingly crafted – and painstakingly personal – film. Relentlessly bleak, unapologetically Jewish, engrossingly strange, it’s a challenging movie that offers thought-provoking dividends for those who get it and misanthropic torment for those who do not.

8/10