A Serious Man

For all the talk of A Serious Man being a major departure for the brothers Coen, the film feels quite Coen-y. It's actually something of a culmination which fine-tunes many elements of the absurd, the surreal, and the darkly comic which have percolated in the brothers work for several decades. Oft-obsessed with all the ways things can go wrong (particularly in the world of crime), the Coens have wielded Murphy's law like a narrative weapon film after film. A Serious Man is the first of their works to actually speak the question of divine acts of misfortune aloud and give them religious context. Relative unknown Michael Stuhlbarg gives an incredible performance as Lawrence Gopnik, a put upon physics professor experiencing a Job-like series of unfortunate events which call his faith into question. Seeking answers, he speaks to the local rabbis in an to attempt to find God's meaning for his misfortune.

The movie opens quite uniquely with a Yiddish fable prologue shot in vintage aspect ratio and made to look somethig like an old European film. It is followed by a credits sequence revealed to be taking place inside the ear canal of Lawrence's son, Danny (Aaron Wolff), a rebellious child listening to Jefferson Airplan in Hebrew class. Almost every scene in this constantly surprising masterpiece feels like a stroke of genius. Most importantly, the Coens have never been so assured in their craft. Each moment feels so distinct and vivid; every line of dialogue feels clear and specific. Famous for filming every line of their script, the Coens go as far as to even decide the "umm..." and "aahhh..." sounds character make as they stammer. And no one authors awkward quite like Joel and Ethan Coen.

A Serious Man is a varied affair, a gentle comedy and an engrossing tragedy as well. It ponders fate, the place of a man in his world, and the ability of a good man to remain strong in the face of so much despair. It very subtly suggests in its stunning, sudden climax that the breaking point of one good man is the point at which the world fall's apart. In what must be one of their very greatest films, the Coens have created an absolutely unmissable, quintessentially American drama with playful rhythmic dialogue and unforgettable images. It's a film steeped in Jewish culture which dares to ask big questions about faith in a dark time.

Grade: A