Review: A Serious Man

Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen

Written by: Joel & Ethan Coen

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff

Rating: [4/5]

Controlling the controllable serves as a source of solace amongst the impending truth that as humans, we have very little control over everything happening around us. All we can do is take it in stride and make the best of it with what we can do. This idea pulsates through the line of thinking of the characters in the equally hilarious and tragic A Serious Man as it puts together a string of preposterous circumstances for a man in quite the impasse in life. 

After his wife informs him she would like a divorce, Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) encounters several challenges in his life continually leaving him befuddled. It leaves him in a place of trying to figure it all out through the help of reflection and the rabbi providing some guidance seeing as his life seemingly is falling apart around him. 

The number of things going wrong for Larry Gopnik would make anyone go insane. From the fact his wife suddenly wants a divorce, a student seeks to bribe him into getting a better grade, and he receives incessant calls from a particular number, nothing shows an upside for him. As a result, the feature becomes a resilience test of just how much nonsense one man can endure before completely losing his mind, which this feature truly pushes to the limit. A comedy of occurrences all centering around one individual and all he can do is leave his mouth agape at the audacity of everyone around him and try to get some answers from whatever higher being can assist him at this point. 

Gopnik seemingly has the perfect white-picket-fence life with the two kids and a job commanding respect. Yes, he has to deal with the possibly antisemitic neighbors staring him down every time they come across each other but he seemingly has it all figured out and lives what many would prescribe as the aspirational American Dream by all intents and purposes. Therefore, the comedy and drama of the feature allow us to see it all crumble underneath him in the most absurd way with none of serving as a source of karma for previous wrongdoing, making for so many wonderful moments and providing an incredible showcase for Michael Stuhlbarg. 

Typically applying his trade as a character actor and never really given lead roles, when provided the opportunity to lead a film by none other than the Coen Brothers, he definitely does not squander the chance. He manages to maintain this confused and preposterous look on his face as he manages to have these strange occurrences constantly occurring one after another. Stuhlbarg absolutely shines and only gives credence to the idea he can eat into any role he takes on. Always a delight to watch him work and having this much screentime definitely comes as a treat. 

Philosophically this film certainly takes quite the dive into some existential dilemmas and crises of faith as Larry tries to wrap his mind around everything occurring in his life. Trying to make peace of it he enlists the help of rabbis, the supposed leaders of his communities in the hopes he can wrap his mind on why suddenly everything has begun to collapse around him. The way the feature caps everything off really gets to the root of what occurs leaving an ample amount of interpretation for the viewer to take away from this experience. Not much explanation gets doled out in order for everything to be wrapped in a neat little bow but rather something worthy of continual ponderance long after the conclusion of the final credits. 

Even though the themes and ideas taken on in this film bear similarities to what the Coen Brothers have tried to take on before, this feature has a distinct uniqueness within their filmography that makes it stand out amongst the rest. While not necessarily standing as the best of what they have to offer as filmmakers, the style in which they decide to tell this story allows for capturing a level of malaise amongst the ridiculous. Some striking images appear in this feature failing to bear the resemblance of anything they have done before thus making this feature quite the viewing experience in its own right on top of the quality it delivers in other facets of its presentation. 

A ride of ridiculousness but filled with deeply humorous moments and incredibly enjoyable sequences, A Serious Man contains its fair share of layers to try and piece together exactly what everything means by the time the end arrives. The journey there certainly has its fair share of dissectible elements making this such a rewarding watch in trying to decipher everything the Coen Brothers want to communicate through the story of Larry’s unfortunate very bad set of weeks where his life gets flipped upside down all of a sudden. Michael Stuhlbarg expectedly shines in the lead role proving he deserves even more opportunities to headline a film. This all makes for a wonderful collaboration very much worth the appreciation it has received.