JIM reviews film “A SERIOUS MAN” -- Staid & ’fraid has made the Grade

“A SERIOUS MAN” — Staid & ’fraid has made the Grade

Rating: 8.5 of 10 stars.

This latest film by the Coen Brothers has been described as a black COMEDY. Please understand that its humor arises from the SITUATIONS & clever handling of people, rather than from any bunch of funny lines. It’s set in the Coen’s hometown area of Minneapolis in 1967, & revolves mainly about the trials & frequent tribulations of nebbishy (weak-willed) Physics professor Larry Gopnik (MICHAEL STUHLBARG) & his dysfunctional family:

His wife Judith (SARI LENNICK) is “tired” of him & wants to take up with smarmy / pushy neighbor Sy (FRED MELAMED); his son Danny (AARON WOLFF) is about to turn 13 & have a bar-mitzvah, but he’s using illicit “substances”; his daughter Sarah (JESSICA McMANUS) is bored & angry at her brother; & his own brother Arthur (RICHARD KIND) — who lives with them — seems to be in trouble with certain “authorities”…

Michael handles almost nothing really well in his life: what little he attempts seem to go awry (re school, his kids, dealing with his wife & brother, etc.), & he’s frighteningly INEFFECTIVE at getting the results he seeks. Going to rabbis for “answers” just makes him more CONFUSED & uncertain, & he’s clearly OBLIVIOUS to what’s truly happening around him & how to “fix” them… Plus, he’s haunted by a series of frightening dreams…

The ending is typically vague & hints at MORE possible PROBLEMS about to “swirl” around the people we’ve met… But, the interrelationships are so well-handled (& acted), it makes for a FASCINATING film & a “different” bunch of people than we’re “used” to seeing nowadays. There’s a “deepness” to a bunch of it— & that’s also one of the synonyms for “SERIOUS” (which seems to describe the people & film in a number of different levels & ways)…