"A Serious Man" - REVIEW

"I didn't do anything" is a phrase often said by Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) in the Coen brothers' latest cinematic oddity "A Serious Man", and for the most part, the statement is accurate. Opening with a quote from Rashi (paraphrase: receive what life gives you with simplicity) and a rewind back to what I'd assume are Gopnik's ancestors, the clash between belief in spirits and curses, and belief in the purely rational is established, and it will continue into the film's present-day (1967). Larry, as so many other reviews have said before, functions more or less as a Job figure: a man whose life just gets worse and worse even though Larry never really did anything wrong, and through it all, though he questions God's hand, he never doubts God's existence, even as things start to pile up. Like many Coen films, this one centers on characters (or in this case, a character) who is inherently good, but whose life falls apart due to a combination of fate and his/her own less-than-great choices.
However, in Larry Gopnik the Coens seem to have created their most innocent suffering protagonist yet. When Larry says he didn't do anything, it's pretty much true. He's been faithful to his wife, who now wants a special religious divorce so she can marry a neighbor with whom she's developed a connection, and manages to uphold his academic integrity when one of his students tries to bribe him for a better grade, among other incidents. There's also his squabbling kids, one of whom is stealing money to buy pot all while zoning out in Hebrew school to the songs of Jefferson Airplane. There's also the matter of two new neighbors: a family of rednecks who may or may not be anti-Semetic, and a very attractive single woman who likes to sunbathe nude. So what does Larry do in the face of all of these mounting problems? He decides to visit three very different rabbis, hopefuy that one of the men will give him the answer he so desperately needs.
I've actually just given you the entire plot of "A Serious Man", but surprisingly, this isn't a spoiler. Why? Because the joy here is in the way Joel and Ethan Coen, by now masters of this sort of film, beautifully craft this near-constant downward spiral that is certainly dark, but also filled with surprisingly hilarity that won't elicit laughs from Jews alone. The way in which the Coens gradually, almost imperceptibly, turn up the tension and intensity beautifully shows their command of the craft of filmmaking, particularly in the humor. Whereas the Coens' 2008 offering, the star-studded "Burn After Reading", was a well-made film that suffered from forced, inorganic attempts of humor, "A Serious Man", much like "The Big Lebowski" or more closely, "Fargo", finds its humor in organic, real ways, never trying too hard to turn some odd idiosyncrasy into a joke. The dialogue that hits home isn't forced or constructed for the sole purpose of being "catchy" or "easily quotable", but instead is natural, making the funniest moments come with a delightful amount of surprise. And, much like "Lebowski" or "Fargo", the storytelling gradually becomes more compelling, while somehow maintaining an outward appearance of being totally relaxed. The early portions particularly may seem to be too relaxed, but they are in fact all part of the superb build-up that the Coens accomplish.
The Coens have a long history of getting good work from their casts, and "A Serious Man" is no exception here by any means. Stuhlbarg makes Larry a character with whom we can feel as he suffers, even though some of his troubles are meant to be taken as bleakly funny. As for the supporting cast, no one has a stand-out supporting role. However, the supporting ensemble as a collective is incredible, particularly Richard Kind as Larry's brother Arthur, and Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman, the man Larry's wife is leaving him for. It's movies like this that make me wish there was an Oscar for Best Ensemble Cast, because while the supporting roles taken individually may be too small to garner any deserved attention, as a collective they pack a wallop.
Artistically and technically the film is superb. Though slow and not entirely clear during its opening scenes, the Coens, once again working under the fake persona of Roderick Jaynes, edit this story to near-perfection. They're aided by long-time cinematographer Roger Deakins (why does this man not have an Oscar yet?), who frames and lights the shots with subtle richness, and nails a handful of scenes when characters are high on pot. And though his music is rarely heard, long-time collaborator Carter Burwell (also, why does this man not have an Oscar?) provides the occasional smattering of low-key, effective music.
I've saved one last piece of the story for the end, and it happens to be, well, the end. The Coens practically made headlines with their abrupt, mystifying ending to "No Country for Old Men", and "A Serious Man" ends in a similarly mystifying way. And while, unlike "No Country", I still have yet to begin to decipher the full meaning of the ending, it does function as a strange, full-circle point in the Coens' careers. Roger Ebert said in his review (again, I'm only paraphrasing here), "it is often said that parables contain clues to their full meaning in their final lines," and "A Serious Man" seems to be no exception. The ending, both confusing and heart-stopping, is a testament to the Coens' strange talents as filmmakers. I may never fully grasp what the ending to "A Serious Man" means, but in a sense it doesn't matter. The mystery almost makes it all better, in what may be the most mature (behind "No Country") film of the Coens' careers, and a more than worthy successor to their crowning achievement from two years ago. Serious and seriously funny, "A Serious Man" will certainly be as divisive as previous Coen brothers films, but for those who can open themselves to their odd little way of making movies, it's also seriously good filmmaking.

Grade: B+/A-