A Serious Man

Brian in Mesa

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A Serious Man

Release Date: October 2, 2009 (limited)
Studio: Focus Features
Director: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Screenwriter: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Genre: Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: R (for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence)
Website: N/A

Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, Aaron Wolf, Sari Wagner, Jessica McManus, Adam Arkin

Plot Summary: "A Serious Man" is the story of an ordinary man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man?

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Pariah

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I'm very excited to see this movie. I'm going to watch it tonight.

Has anyone seen it?
 

Chaplin

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I saw it, had some funny parts, but it had a lot of very Jewish conventions in it that frankly I didn't get. It definitely had the Coen feel to it.
 

Stout

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I really loved No Country for Old Men. I understood what the movie was saying and the points it was making. I think you absolutely must be Jewish or know the Jewish faith and customs and religion in order to make any kind of sense out of this movie. I thought it was horrible.

A milquetoast guy who never stands up for himself, that wonders what he should do and whines that he doesn't know, who never tries to do it for himself. The best guess I had was that he was the prototypical Jewish guy, who lets the woman talk him into everything? Not trying to be disrespectful, and am merely trying to understand it. Then God (Hashem?) punished him for being so indecisive? The stuff at the beginning, while hilarious, ties in how, though? Ugh.
 

Pariah

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I just liked it okay until the end. Loved the ending.

...and I don't think you have to be jewish to understand that it's a man asking god, "why me? why now? what's it all for?"
 

Stout

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I just liked it okay until the end. Loved the ending.

...and I don't think you have to be jewish to understand that it's a man asking god, "why me? why now? what's it all for?"

Well, DUH! lol The thing is, that's never answered, so I went in search of deeper meaning. I didn't find any. Oh, I'm sure it's there, but I missed it.
 

Cheesebeef

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instantly made my top 3 for the Coen's. Absolutely brilliant, hilarious flick. And thought it won't say it doesn't help being Jewish to really love this movie, but most of my friends out in LA aren't and they all pretty much felt the same as me.

it's definitely not for everyone though and most likely is a love or hate it film. i loved it.
 

Stout

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Meh, to me that's a heck of a lot of nothing to bring across one point. Reminds me then of the movie Garden State. I thought at first that I didn't get the point because the damned movie made me just feel emotionally numb. Then I was informed that this WAS the point. I said great! The movie made its point! I didn't really care for it, but it made its point...yay!

Give me the Dude any day of the week :)
 
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