Review: A Serious Man (2009)

[Tim Skirvin]

  For the first time in my movie-reviewing career, I feel like I'm in
over my head.  As I came out of _A Serious Man_, I felt like I had been to
an art gallery.  I had seen many things, and while I recognize that I had
liked those things, I had no idea *why* I liked them.  Worse, I didn't like
*all* of those things, at least not as much as I felt like I ought to have!
In the past, I've been able to paper over this response by, well, not
writing anything.  Now that I'm writing reviews, I have to display that lack
of sophistication to the world.

  Well, here goes.

  _A Serious Man_ tells two stories: a prologue, regarding an 18th
century Russian Jewish couple and a visitor to their house, and the main
story, telling of the trials a Jewish professor in the late 1960s.  The
first part sets the tone: dark.  The second part adds absurd despair, mixed
liberally with a black humor and topped off with a dollop of pathos.
Together, the Coen brothers end up with something painful, profound, and
pitch-black humor.

  The cinematography is spectacular, especially considering the
relatively mundane setting.  The soundtrack - mostly lots of Jefferson
Airplane - was well-used and thought out.  The characters were well-realized
and, though perhaps somewhat stereotypical, quite authentic.  The community
seemed both large and manageable; everybody had a challenge, and they
responded to those challenges in ways both reasonable and absurd.  The
acting was excellent (and full of unknown actors - always a plus!).  And I
think I even picked up a few pieces of Jewish culture along the way.

  But the problem, from my point of view, is that this was also an
Art Film, in the most dangerous manner.  Coming out of the theatre, I could
not identify how the elements of the prologue presaged what came later.  I
had laughed in many places where the rest of the audience had not, but I
couldn't tell if this was my own dark sense of humor or me just
understanding the difficult humor.  In general, while I didn't exactly feel
like I was lost during the film, I also didn't feel like I understood it
all.  I came out of this movie wondering if, perhaps, I should take some
film-studies classes.  Perhaps that sums the movie up as well as anything.

  Don't go in expecting a straight-forward Coen brothers comedy; this
ain't it.  _Burn After Reading_, _The Big Lebowski_, _The Hudsucker Proxy_,
are all much more "comedic" comedies; even _Fargo_ doesn't hold a candle to
the darkness of this movie.  Perhaps this is some kind of cross between the
darkness of _No Country for Old Men_ and the comedy of _Fargo_; I'm not
sure if I can think of anything else comparable.  But still, it's worth
seeing if you recognized any of the movies I just listed (and if you're
reading my reviews, you probably do.)

  ***.  It probably would have been higher if I had understood; and,
perhaps my estimation of the movie will go up as I allow myself to read the
reviews of others.

                           - Tim Skirvin (tskirvin at killfile.org)
-- 
http://wiki.killfile.org/           Skirv's Homepage <FISH>< <*>
http://wiki.killfile.org/reviews/movies    Skirv's Movie Reviews