‘A Serious Man’
4 out of 5 Stars
Stars:ÊMichael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence.
Running Time: 104 minutes
When the end credits roll for the Coen Brothers’ new black comedy, there’s a droll disclaimer: “No Jews were harmed in the making of this motion picture.” While it may be true that none of its mostly Jewish cast of lesser-known actors was physically injured during filming, the fictional hero of “A Serious Man” is seriously tormented for our amusement. And, as it happens, for our bemusement too.
In their first overtly Jewish film — after a long career of covertly mining the ethnicity’s sometimes bitter, absurdist style of shtetl humor — Joel and Ethan look back on their 1960s suburban Minnesotan origins by putting put-upon protagonist Professor Larry Gopnick (Tony nominee Michael Stuhlbarg) through the ringer. The witty ridicule also comes with great existential spiritual puzzlers for his useless rabbis — as in, why would God give a good man such tsuris and what should he do about it?
But then they make matters even more idiosyncratically Coen-esque. The producing/writing/directing/editing brothers bookend the thing with an unrelated 10-minute prologue (a Yiddish ghost story set in Eastern Europe over a century ago) and a non sequitur finale of literally cataclysmic proportions.
From early Lower East Side theater and the Borsht Belt to Woody Allen and Larry David, the Jewish aesthetic often plays angst-ridden schlemiels and outrageous fatalism for giggles. Why? Because, naturally, a people that has survived holocausts, pogroms, inquisitions, slavery and the genetic plague of excessive body hair would find funny such somewhat lesser life challenges as divorce, career crisis and financial ruin.
Larry is experiencing all of the latter. He spirals downward as his attentions are caught between various rabbis, university cohorts and lawyers (including Adam Arkin) and other tormentors: two bratty kids (Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus), his disgruntled ex-wife-to-be (Sari Lennick), her patronizing new beloved (hilariously portrayed by standout Fred Melamed); a still-dependent grown brother (Richard Kind), and the hostile gentile next door (Peter Breitmayer).
As Larry’s review for tenure and his pot-smoking son Danny’s bar mitzvah finally come, there appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel. The wimpy but devout dupe continues to try to follow a moral compass, even though those around him don’t.
The Coens make fun of this “Man’s” seriousness. You’ll laugh, you’ll grimace, you’ll recognize the Jefferson Airplane lyrics, you’ll scratch your head. A deliciously twisted night at the movies? Who knew?
