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A SERIOUS MAN |
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My favorite Ethan and Joel Coen film is, by far, "Fargo". I can't help but think that even with it's morbid, violent nature
it was on top of most people's lists. It combined great acting, an interesting set, a sick yet common topic all in a product with a beginning, middle, and definitive end. After "Fargo" I liked "Blood Simple", "Barton Fink", "No Country for Old Men" and "Burn After Reading", "Raising Arizona" and
"O Brother, Where Art Thou"... in that order. I put "No Country for Old Men" fourth (though it won best movie that year) because of the funky ending. "A Serious Man" is the Coen Brothers latest release and unlike other critics I'm not going to blindly bow down and hail it as
a great film. I've often noted many of my colleagues do with out any justification nor logical reason. And I don't consider "Just because" a logical argument. |
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But I will be in the minority on this matter because I will be one of the few who will freely admit that I didn't get it. I didn't get the movie as a movie. It stars Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik, a 1960's Orthodox Jew living with his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) and their two
kids Danny (Aaron Wolff) and Sarah (Jessica McManus) in a small Minnesota town. Living with his family is his brother Arthur (Richard Kind) who is constantly
draining a cyst out of the back of his neck. Larry is a physics professor at a local college and in the matter of a few short days will be dumped on from
every field. Sari will announce to him that she is leaving him for a close friend named Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed) whom she has grown close to. Moreover,
she insists that Larry is in the wrong because the marriage is not going perfectly. |
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On top of that Larry is up for tenure and is constantly reminded of it by an administrator who also informs him that somebody
is sending letters denouncing Larry ass not worthy of tenure. On top of that Danny has become a discipline problem at the Hebrew school he is attending especially after discovering pot. By the way
he owes the local drug dealer money that was confiscated by a teacher. Judith is stealing money from Larry all while spending most of her day washing her hair. His brother
should be looking for a job and isn't; instead he spends his time trying to get laid. To add to his problems a failing Asian student (David Kang) has left an envelope full of cash to influence Larry to change his grade to passing... so he won't
lose face and his scholarship. Any one thing would be a lot to absorb for anyone; together they create tons of personal drama. Worse yet, Larry who is
apparently faithful can't get an audience with his rabbi do seek guidance. I got that part. It is underneath the layers, an age old tale of one man against the world. We have seen tons of these films - some
good some awful. What I didn't get was the manner of which the sequences are connected, the beginning and the ending. The beginning had nothing to do (seemingly)
with the rest of the film. It is a Yiddish folk tale that the Coen Brothers completely made up. The sequences seem little more than life vignettes that a cohesive story. And you'll have to see the
ending which I found even more uneasy as "No Country for Old Men". Most movies I don't get usually go on to win tons of awards and lots of accolades. Generally from people who are afraid to
admit that they didn't get it either. In my book, just because it's over my head doesn't mean it's great. It means it needs to be tightened up. "A Serious Man" to me, needs to be
seriously tighten up! --GEOFFREY BURTON
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