A Serious Man...

... The official Review




So, the new Coen Brothers movie is finally here. This movie got a selective release deal, which struck me as very odd. I had to drive all the way to Alta and Rampart to see this, like 45 minutes away. The movie was pretty good, definitely better than their last movie ( Burn After Reading ), which was in every theatre around the city. I like the Coen Brothers, but I don't think that they are quite as good as they think they are. I really enjoyed some of their movies, in fact, Barton Fink has one of my favorite endings of all time, but lately, their movies just don't strike me the same. I enjoyed "O Brother, Where Art Though?", but after that, I feel like they sort-of fell off. ( In my opinion )
They are widely known as some of the best filmmakers of our time, but is it deserved? Ok, ok, they did Fargo, I loved it. They did Big Lebowski, I loved it. And like I said before, their classics are also great, but legendary?
I doubt it.
Their movies are very entertaining, but they lack that feeling that I get on the back of my spine when you see something that seems totally REAL. The closest to this that I have seen in a Coen Brothers movie was when William H. Macy came home from the grocery store in Fargo and saw the signs of foul play in his hallway. He hired the men, and expected his wife to be gone, but when he saw the broken glass and blood on the floor, his acting went to the next level. My favorite Cohen scene.
Anyways, the movie opens up with a scene that definitely doesn't fit in with the rest of the movie. An old Jewish man stumbles into his cabin from an apparent blizzard. He informs his uninterested wife about his journey on the way home. The wheel on his wagon fell off, and a mysterious man helped him. After a quick conversation, the unnamed helper tells the man that he is an old friend of his wife, so of coarse, the man invites the unnamed helper to his home for a nice warm bowl of soup. As he says the man's name, her face goes pale. She informs him that this man died three years ago. When he knocks on the door, the husband sits him down at the table. Before the man is there for a few minutes, the wife stabs him in the chest with an Awl, ( a chisel sort-of tool used in woodworking ) He sits there for a second, seemingly unharmed. When the wife makes a point of this, he informs her that he IS indeed hurt, and blood begins to spill down his shirt. He tells the couple that he knows when he is not welcome, tips his hat, and walks out into the cold.
The rest of the movie takes place in 1967 in a small town in Minnesota. The main actor ( Michael Stuhlbarg ) actually did a really good job. He reminded me of Juaquin Phoenix, maybe mixed with William H. Macy. Richard Kind plays his brother Arthur, and he was pretty impressive himself. It seems to me that the Coen Brothers are famous for their jarring scenes that are supposed to send chills down their spine. Before I even saw Fargo, all I heard about was the scene where this guy throws somebody in the wood-chipper. Is that the highlight of the movie? Far from it. A valuable scene? Perhaps. But nonetheless, the scene that gets talked about the most. Same as in No Country For Old Men ( Overrated ). The scene that people talk about the most is when Javier Bardem blows the guy's head open with an air compressor. Cool scene, and I guess it was kind-of valuable to the character's development... but still. Don't they want to be more than one-scene wonders?
Anyways, the reason that I bring this up is because in my opinion, they let this go their heads. This movie kind-of reminded me of "The Informant". It had that bland, dry look to it, and seemed very real. Not boring, but some people could take it that way. I like when movies are like that, very documentary-style. So if this movie would have stayed like that, I would have been pretty impressed, but it seems like their sudden, jarring scenes have become their trademark. I don't think their ego would allow them to make a movie without a "Woodchipper" scene. They throw these ridiculous "Dream Sequences" throughout the movie that stick out like a thousand sore-thumbs. This movie was very multi-faceted, with many different plot lines. I love that. The first plot line is obviously the man getting stabbed in the heart in the beginning of the movie, ( we never hear from any of them again ), and the second plot line is when Michael Stuhlbarg discovers that his wife wants to leave him. Michael always tries to do what's right, even when it hurts him, and I admire that. Everyone tells him to go see the Rabbi. He does, but his wife's new lover is a highly respected man in the temple, and the Rabbi doesn't seem to see things his way. This is a man who literally did NOTHING wrong. His wife was 100% in the wrong, and you can see that when you take a look at her facial expressions and attitude. She leaves him for a pompous socialite named Sy Ableman. There is something about Sy that just makes you want to hate him. Good directing. Anyways, nobody seems to understand what he is going through. It's like trying to share your views of McCain at an Obama rally. It's not happening. He yells at his son for constantly smoking joints and listening to Jefferson Airplane. His son looses his MP3 player in class because he was paying more attention to "Don't you want somebody to love" than his arithmetic. The Rabbi takes his MP3 player and walks back to the front of the class. ( He attends a Hebrew school ) What the Rabbi doesn't know, is Danny's money is stashed in the case of the MP3 player, and he needs that money to pay his weed dealer.
The movie is broken into thirds, a new third begins every time he goes to see one of the three senior Rabbis at his temple. Michael Stuhlbarg plays a math teacher, and one of his students ( David Kang as Clive Park ) doesn't seem to be doing very well. Michael Stuhlbarg's character is forced to fail Clive after his final tests scores were too low. Clive attempts to bribe Michael with an envelope filled with hundred dollar bills. Michael doesn't accept the bribe, but Clive leaves before he can give the money back. Confused about what to do, he sticks the envelope in his desk drawer. After he accepts the fact that his wife is leaving him, he spots a beautiful lady sunbathing in the nude next-door. He eventually gains the courage to knock on her door, and she immediately invites him in. At this point, Michael Stuhlbarg's character is pretty confused about life, and is ready fpor just about anything new. They sit on her couch and she lights a joint. As they smoke, she plays "Don't you want somebody to love" by jefferson Airplane.
Michael sees the second Rabbi, but has no luck. He needs to see the top Rabbi at the temple, Rabbi Marshak, but it's nearly impossible to get an appointment. Rabbi Marshak only talks to other Rabbis, and sometimes when a boy completes his Bar Mitzah, he's been known to enlighten the child with a few words of wisdom.
Anyways, even Michael's lawyers seem to be on his wife's side, and things are definitely looking grim. Michael is such a nice guy, that he leaves his own house to live in the Jolly Roger hotel with his brother Arthur. The next day, Michael is driving to work at the same time Sy is driving to the golf course. The camera follows them both as they simultaneously make crucial mistakes while driving. Sy attempts to make a risky left-turn into the golf-course, while Michael thinks he sees Clive Park riding his bicycle down the street, and attempts to yell at him. The editing leads you to believe that they are about to run into each-other, but they are actually on opposite ends of town. While Michael ends up in a small three-car fender-bender, St Ableman dies on impact. Michael wonders if things will go back to normal now, but soon realizes that that's nearly impossible. All of the townspeople rave about Sy Ableman at the funeral, even though not much is heard over Michael's future-ex-wife's incoherent sobs.
Michael is approached by her lawyers and is bullied into accepting the charges for Sy's funeral. "Who else is supposed to pay it?!" She taunts him, and he reluctantly agrees.
Michael's son Danny attempts to sneak into the Rabbi's drawer after school hours, but had no luck recovering his lost MP3 player, and he's getting a little tired of sprinting full-speed towards his front door whenever he sees his creditor.
Danny's Bar Mitzah is coming up soon, and both parents try to be civil for the sake of tradition. Danny and his friends smoke about three joints before the ceremony, and Danny's cloudy point-of-view was a pretty interesting segment.
After the ceremony, Danny is led to the hallway where Rabbi Marshak resigns. When Danny approaches his desk, the Rabbi stares him right in the eye and begins reciting lyrics from the same Jefferson Airplane song. He slides Danny's MP3 player forward and dismisses him. Danny gets back to school and finds that the money is till hidden within the case. Right before he can get the dealer's attention, an alarm goes off and the class is rushed outside due to a tornado warning. As the Rabbi struggles to find the key that unlocks the cellar, Danny approaches the bully from behind. "Hey, I've got your money" he says, but no response. He walks even close to the bully, but he seems tapped where he stands. Danny attempts to call out his name once more before the bully slowly turns around, revealing a humungous black tornado heading right towards them, too close to dodge.
The movie ends.
Hmmmm..... very interesting. I'll give you a second to take it all in.
Ok, ok, so here's MY take on it. In the beginning of the movie, Michael was scorning his son for smoking pot and listening to Jefferson Airplane, but about an hour later, what is he doing? The exact same thing. During this scene in the movie, you can actually see excitement and happiness in Michael Stuhlbarg's character, unlike every other scene in the movie. The scene really reminded me of "The Graduate", the lady looked strikingly similar, and there were too many coincidences for it NOT to be an homage piece. Anyways, Michael never got to see the third Rabbi, but Danny did. And what did he tell Danny? Nothing, he just recited the lyrics and slid his MP3 player forward. Well what does it tell us? That instead of asking his friends and coo-workers what he should do, he should simply look towards his childhood? To the simplicity of life when things were actually fun? I think so. I think Michael was looking in all the wrong places for his answer. ( Not to offend the Rabbis, their advice was very true, in some ways, but the Rabbi's weren't just Rabbi's, they played characters that were loyal to Sy, not Michael, and gave their advice accordingly. )
So what's the deal with the story in the beginning? Hmmm... now that's a tough one. Is there even a link? Or are the Coen Brothers too well-known for "Artsy" movies, that can't produce something without at least one scene that nobody can decipher? Both could be correct. I enjoyed the movie, it was entertaining, but like I said before, these shocking nightmares became sort of an eyesore to watch. The first one consisted of Sy Ableman slamming Michael's head against the wall over and over telling him "I fucked your wife Larry, I fucked your wife". Very out-of place. Michael wakes up in a cold sweat and things go back to normal. Next time, Larry ( Michael Stuhlbarg ) takes his brother Arthur to the edge of the lakes and helps him prepare his canoe. Before he departs, he gives Arthur the envelope full of money, and tells him to start a new life. Before Arthur can even fully finish thanking him, he gets shot right through the head by a high-powered hunting rifle. Michael turns around and sees his next-door neighbor ( Whom he never really liked ) reloading his weapon with his son. His young son raises the rifle towards Michael as his father points at him and says, "Look son, another Jew, get him!" As the rifle fires, Michael wakes up from the dream. There were a few more of these, I can't seem to remember now, but they really didn't fit in at all, and if you watch the trailer, they really focus on these scenes. Like I said, I think they feel as if the movie was incomplete without these scenes, I however, feel as if the movie was incomplete with them.
A Serious Man - Worth watching. Worth driving an hour to see it? It's debatable. Definately better than their last two movies, but nothing compared to "The Man Who Wasn't There" or "Barton Fink"
7/10