In the Old Testament, there's a book containing the story about a man named Job. Job is depicted as a good, decent, and faithful man. He loves his wife and children, he works hard, and regards God as the number one priority in his life. However, God and Satan have placed a wager questioning Job's true loyalty to God, where Satan believes if God removes his holy protection from Job, Job will spite God for all of his eventual suffering and prove his lack of faith.
As such, Job undergoes a series of highly unfortunate events: he loses his wealth, his wife and children are all killed, and Job's physical health deteriorates rapidly. Despite being a righteous and humble man, Job wonders why on earth God chose to pick on him.
That's pretty much the dilemma that Jewish professor and family man Larry Gopnik faces in the latest film from the Oscar-winning Coen Brothers, A Serious Man. Proving once again that there aren't many to match the Coens' talents in crafting dark, introspective, and wonderfully weird cinematic tales, A Serious Man is one part drama, one part black comedy, and a whole lotta meshugas.
In 1967 suburban Minneapolis, Larry Gopnik (stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg) is a Jewish professor of physics at a local university, a true mensch, and patiently awaiting his tenure. However, as of late, Larry's been going through a lot of inconveniences both big and small. His daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) seems to only care about washing her hair while also stealing money to fund a nosejob; his 13-year-old son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is approaching his bar mitzvah, and is a habitual pot smoker. Larry's brother Arthur (Richard Kind) has been crashing at Larry's house for months while trying to formulate the ultimate equation for being successful at gambling. And Larry's wife Judith (Sari Lennick) wants to get a divorce, as she's fallen in love with family friend and recent widower Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed).
Not only does this romantic revelation force Larry and Arthur to move into a motel, but Larry also is facing a lawsuit from the father of a student who tried to bribe Larry into giving the boy a better grade. His bank accounts empty, and anonymous defamatory letters threatening his chances at tenure, Larry is at the end of his rope, and tries to consult the wisdom of three different rabbis and ask what he's done to anger God.
In their long and unique career, the Coen Brothers haven't had a project as personal and intimate as A Serious Man. Having grown up in the Jewish faith in suburban Minneapolis during the 1960s, the siblings have clearly made Larry's story as a true labor of love: a character study and a look at how one falls back on faith when the chips are down, even those fallen chips are of Job-like proportions.
But our connection with this poor schmuck would be bubkes if it weren't for the terrific performance of Michael Stuhlbarg. A New York thespian mostly known for his Tony-nominated stage work, Stuhlbarg takes his role and nails it down perfectly. As the cinematic gods heap more and more misfortune on Larry, we feel his annoyance, anguish, and pain. It's a sublime performance that should easily open the door for more work in movies.
However, in true Coen fashion, this film may not be for everyone. Like many of their past works, A Serious Man is rather bleak, and despite some subtly funny/amusing moments, there's not much catharsis to be taken from the story. In fact, it can be rather pessimistic, though it may strike a chord with viewers who may have the same spiritual questions and dilemmas as Larry.
Also, there are a lot of references to Jewish tradition, religion, and language that many confuse the more gentile moviegoers. Luckily, such elements don't incapacitate the viewers' ability to understand the story, and it may even interest them to learn more about Yiddish and what the hell everyone was talking about.
In essence, this a Coen film, through and through. It relishes in its inherent weirdness and peculiarities, and everything is open to interpretation (from the opening prologue set in the early 20th century, to the abrupt ending that abandons newly loosened strings in the narrative). But A Serious Man is a superbly executed film in how it poses truly existential questions about faith, misfortune, and that classic-yet-never-answered query: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Of course, as in real life, the film never gets around to answering it. Oy vey.
Letter Grade: "B+"
