Released in 2009 and written & directed by the Coen brothers, "A Serious Man" is a black comedy/drama/satire about a passive Minneapolis physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) in 1967 who faces a series of tragedies and desperately seeks the answers 'Why?' Sari Lennick plays his unfaithful wife and Fred Melamed (who looks like Francis Ford Coppola) her lover. Richard Kind appears as the eccentric (maybe genius) uncle while Aaron Wolff & Jessica McManus play the kids. Amy Landecker is on hand as a sexpot neighbor. Simon Helberg (from The Big Bang Theory) has a small role as an assistant rabbi.
There's a prologue that was shot in the Czech Republic which the Coens say has no link to the rest of the movie. Really? It struck me as rather tedious and, if it has no connection to the story, why is it there? Actually, I didn't find the entire first half of the film very entertaining and the protagonist's ultra-passivism started to become exasperating, but around the halfway point things began to click and I found myself consistently amused till the end.
Freely borrowing from the awesome book of Job, this movie will obviously play better to Jewish and Christian audiences; perhaps also other spiritual seekers. It addresses the deep questions of life and the inherent challenges of the human condition (trapped in a physical shell in a fallen world while yearning for the perfect and divine) with a good sense of satirical humor. The song "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane is a focal point and supposedly holds the non-answers:
"When the truth is found to be lies; And all the joy within you dies. Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Wouldn't you love somebody to love? You better find somebody to love."
There are anachronistic references to two albums: Santana's Abraxas and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory, which weren't released until 1970, three years after the events in the film.
The movie runs 106 minutes and was shot in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area (e.g. the suburban scenes were filmed in Bloomington), including St. Louis Park, where I spent my childhood.
GRADE: B-
There's a prologue that was shot in the Czech Republic which the Coens say has no link to the rest of the movie. Really? It struck me as rather tedious and, if it has no connection to the story, why is it there? Actually, I didn't find the entire first half of the film very entertaining and the protagonist's ultra-passivism started to become exasperating, but around the halfway point things began to click and I found myself consistently amused till the end.
Freely borrowing from the awesome book of Job, this movie will obviously play better to Jewish and Christian audiences; perhaps also other spiritual seekers. It addresses the deep questions of life and the inherent challenges of the human condition (trapped in a physical shell in a fallen world while yearning for the perfect and divine) with a good sense of satirical humor. The song "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane is a focal point and supposedly holds the non-answers:
"When the truth is found to be lies; And all the joy within you dies. Don't you want somebody to love? Don't you need somebody to love? Wouldn't you love somebody to love? You better find somebody to love."
There are anachronistic references to two albums: Santana's Abraxas and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory, which weren't released until 1970, three years after the events in the film.
The movie runs 106 minutes and was shot in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area (e.g. the suburban scenes were filmed in Bloomington), including St. Louis Park, where I spent my childhood.
GRADE: B-