A Serious Man (DVD)

Although the Coen Brothers give the impression that they alternate more personal projects with crowd-pleasing ones (Barton Fink/Fargo, say), in all honesty, each effort is so indisputably theirs that audience opinion is not so much polarised as wrenched apart. Even multi-Oscar winning No Country for Old Men – for the most part a nail-biting suspenser worthy of Hitchcock – infuriated many with its loyalty to Cormac McCarthy’s philosophical digressions in its latter stages.

Not that it matters to them: they are likely the most idiosyncratic popular filmmakers in America at the moment, and they would probably take perverse delight in seeing an average viewer’s befuddlement at their latest, A Serious Man. It’s the Coens at their most personal and inscrutable, the work of two filmmakers who could only operate on the outskirts of the Hollywood game.

Tarantino proclaimed last year’s Inglourious Basterds as a Jewish revenge fantasy whereas it was really an excuse for him to parade as a wise-ass. The Coen’s keep their film based at a more authentic, homely level, opening with a wintry, period sequence that nevertheless is so brazenly odd and out-of-kilter that it blindsides the audience as to its relevance (in other words, the directors doing what they do best).

We then home in on amiable 1960s professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) who is the recipient of a sudden stream of bad luck. His wife decides to abandon him for their obnoxious neighbour, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed); his application for tenure is threatened; and a student threaten to launch legal action is Larry doesn’t change his grades. In the meantime, his brother constantly occupies the sofa while vying because of a cyst; his dope-dealing son has an imminent Bar Mitzvah; and his bratty daughter is stealing money to save for a nose job. Oh and there’s a Schrodinger’s Cat metaphor chucked in for good measure. What’s that, you ask? And, more to the point, why is all this happening?

It’s the ‘square peg/round hole’ analogy writ-large. No manner of twisting will classify it or shove the film into an easy bracket. The focus is more personal than usual (small-town characters as opposed to small town crime) but their gaze is immediately recognisable, from the jarring, clipped body language of the key players to the repetitious sing-song dialogue.

Roger Deakins’ symmetrical photography complements the underlying themes of ordinary life rendered as a surreal mathematical equation. Although doused in their familiar darkness, toying with both character and audience, it’s more likely to raise shrugs in those not of the Jewish persuasion. Like their last, Burn After Reading, it’s either a film about something truly devious…or a film about nothing at all. Hidden equations? Bad luck? Religious angst? It’s all there for those who want to see it, but those who don’t will find it a cold and alienating experience.

Overall Verdict: It won’t win any new Coen bros. converts and even those who’ve been preached to may find it too niche and oddball. But then, Joel and Ethan would probably love the apathy.

Special Features:
Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys
Becoming Serious
Creating 1967

Reviewer: Sean Wilson