A Serious Man

[Beate]

Academy Award winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humor to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies.

Larry Gopnik is a good man. He is a loving husband, a committed father, and a dedicated professor who always does the fair and just thing in the face of daily temptations. But one day, everything starts to go wrong. His wife leaves him for reasons she can’t explain, and her smug new lover manages to convince Larry that he should be the one to move out of the house and into a cheap motel – all for the children’s benefit, of course. Then Larry’s career is put into jeopardy by a series of anonymous letters falsely accusing him of unnamed treacheries. And when his wife’s new partner dies in a car accident, she insists that he should foot the bill for the funeral! Now the cash strapped Larry finds himself p*ying to bury a man he hates, bailing his gambling addicted brother out of jail, and desperately trying to save his name and his career in academia. Yet, in spite of it all, we can’t help but laugh as we contemplate Larry’s plight in a world with no silver linings that might just seem uncomfortably familiar to us all...

[a_person]

No way..... Just saw the trailer.... No one is doing another Burn After Reading on me again!

[EthanRunt]

Looking forward to it, 5 stars from Empire, Richard Kind is an instant win too.

[superhero]

I saw it at the London film festival and haven't written a review yet, because its a very difficult one to write a review. The bulk of the film was very enjoyable to watch and we are on definite Coen territory. However, people will come out of the film talking about the beginning and the ending the most. It's frustrating, you walk in, start watching and think hey I am in the wrong cinema watching the wrong film and the film ends and I am wondering, Is this the intermission? The meaning of the beginning and the ending will no doubt be much discussed and I would love to hear what everyone else thinks. I don't like films that thinks it's really clever and actually it is! and I don't get it..... Hopefully someone can explain the beginning and ending to me abit better than I can interpret it.
Shame they didn't do a Q&A at the LFF, I am sure everyone would have been asking the directors about it.

[Beate]

I have just seen the trailer at the cinema and even though it looks seriously weird I am intrigued to watch it so would be happy catching it at the Cineworld Haymarket if they stick us in a nice screen.

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

I don't like films that thinks it's really clever and actually it is!

Sounds like the same feeling I had with No Country for Old Men, I enjoyed the build up but then it tries to be too clever for its own good and left me so very unsatisfied by the end. There was a time when the Coen brothers ruled with the likes of Raising Arisona, Hudsucker Proxy and Big Belowski but then they get way too self indulgent with their other crazy logic films. Having said that, I look forward to every film they make because even their most disappointing films at least have masterful moments of originality.

[EthanRunt]

I really do enjoy No Country, yes the ending is drawn out, but it's rather wonderful to realise who the main character really is.
Though nothing will compare to Lebowski, watched it again the other day, just too perfect.

[ciro22]

I love the Coens but I'm not so sure about this one - all the reviews have been good and the trailer looks interesting enough but I still can't seem to shake the feeling that perhaps they have gone a little too esoteric on this one.

They've done it before, and quite successfully too, on films like Oh Brother and The Man Who Wasn't There but both of those films still had wider-appealing aspects behind them (noir or pre-war farce) whereas A Serious Man seems to be specifically geared to Jewish culture in the 60's...

[kevinknapman]

I've been a huge fan of the Coen Brothers since seeing 'Blood Simple' on TV, followed by 'Raising Arizona' on video. I've seen all their films since on the big screen and always look forward to the next offering. When I originally saw the trailer for 'A Serious Man' I was worried however. After they followed the sublime 'No Country For Old Men' with the disappointing star-laden 'Burn After Reading' I thought they'd lost their touch again (it's painful just thinking about 'The Ladykillers'). I found the trailer with it's endless repetitions extremely grating and nothing about it made me want to see the film.

When I found out that the film was showing at the London Film Festival but that it was being released a few weeks later, I did something I hadn't done before with a Coen Brothers movie, I decided to wait. Then I saw some of the reviews, in particular Empire's five star review, and I decided to check it out anyway and went to a matinee screening. Boy was I glad I did. This is the Coen Brothers at the top of their game. Sure it may not be the most accessible of their movies but it is often laugh out loud funny. Michael Stuhlbarg is fantastic in the lead role and I'm sure you'll be seeing his name on some awards shortlists in the coming months (It was quite amusing seeing him in one of his more usual roles in 'Cold Souls' a couple of weeks later. His character didn't even have a proper name in that). The rest of the cast are great too.

One of the things that I'll be most interested to hear about from other people is the reaction to the ending. As has already been mentioned here it's quite sudden and unexpected. As for the beginning, I felt that this was the Coens way of saying that this is a specifically Jewish story. That Jews living in the modern world have the weight of Jewish history on their shoulders including all the traditions and superstitions that come with it. It also shows how Jewish culture uses stories or fables describing people dealing with similar problems to help them come to terms with their own predicaments. Something this film does on several occasions throughout the movie. Of course that makes it sound a lot heavier than it actually is. Sure it can be bleak (especially the ending) but as I said it's also really funny. Overall I think this film will divide opinion, but I loved it.

[Ms Thrifty]

I saw this today at the Curzon Chelsea as, after being messed around about whether or not I had a free ticket, going on the waiting list pa*d off. In fact, when I got there, I was told they had a pair of tickets for me, but that must have been a mistake, as it was strictly one per member. So, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it, though it's probably reassuring to have read the previous posts and therefore to know both that the start is a bit strange (but funny) and the ending sudden indeed. Also, and I don't know how to say this without the risk of offence, though I intend none, it is incredibly Jewish. By that I mean that nearly all the characters are Jewish; the children go to a Jewish school, the lead character consults (or tries to) no fewer than 3 rabbis about his marital difficulties; there is a funeral and a bar mitzvah, etc etc. But you don't need to have any background knowledge to enjoy the film and in places it was laugh-out-loud funny, though it's not slapstick humour.