A Serious Man

Cast: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, Peter Breitmayer, Brent Braunschweig, David Kang, Alan Mandell, George Wyner, Amy Landecker, Adam Arkin, and Michael Lerner
Director: Joel and Ethan Coen
Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Rated: M Drug use, coarse language, violence and sexual references
Running Time: 105 Minutes
Released: 19 Nov 2009

Synopsis:
Academy Award ® winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen bring their famously wicked sense of humour to this every day tale about a moral man who sees the world inexplicably turn against him in this darkest of comedies.

My Verdict:
Initially, you might feel that you have somehow landed in the wrong cinema when choosing to see A Serious Man. Opening with a short Yiddish fable involving a man and his wife and a mysterious stranger, this little vignette later links to the main story, so stick with it.

Fast-forward to 1967 and Jewish Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is your average suburban man - married with two children, modern house and permanent tenure on the horizon as a lecturer at college. His life seems to have only the usual small bumps until it inexplicably starts unravelling. His wife Judith (Sari Lennick), declares she wants a divorce in order to hook up with their friend Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), his teenage son owes money to a drug-dealer from school, his daughter resorts to stealing from his wallet, a student surreptitiously bribes him for a better grade, a colleague divulges there have been some anonymous letters regarding his suitability for tenure, his neighbour and his son arouse suspicion and his brother, Arthur (Larry Kind) who was staying temporarily at his house, procrastinates on leaving thereby disrupting the atmosphere of his household. Larry hits one crisis after another and tries to make sense of it all with the help of his elusive Rabbi amongst others, all the while just trying to be a serious man.

As Larry Gopnik, Michael Stuhlbarg delivers a wonderfully controlled performance of a man faced with multiple predicaments. The tension Stuhlbarg evokes and the anticipation that at some stage, Larry will explode, is just palpable as he searches for answers to why his life has taken so many sudden turns. Newcomer, Sari Lennick ably personifies the normally dutiful wife who hits a mid-life crisis, Aaron Wolff and Jessica McManus competently fulfil their roles as the Gopnik children and the rest of the cast complement each role.

Joel and Ethan Coen somehow manage to re-invent themselves with every successive movie they make and A Serious Man is no exception. The attention to detail is exceptional with kitsch 60's furniture, home wares, clothes, street scenes filled with 60's cars etc., all in abundance and all equally contributing to the very typical Coen-ish script. Brilliant perhaps for die-hard Coen brother's fans, and puzzling and slow for others, it is still an absorbing and darkly wry comedy that finishes with a hint that there is always a storm brewing no matter how hard you try to avoid one.

Rating : ****

Christina Bruce