A Serious Man

I saw A Serious Man last Friday. After seeing the movie, I stand by my prediction that it will be nominated for best picture this year.

Set in surburban Minneapolis in the 1960s, the movie follows Larry Gopnik, a physics professor, who is going through a bad spell in his life. His wife wants a divorce, someone is writing nasty letters to the tenure board, a korean student is trying to blackmail him for giving him an F, his brother won't leave his couch, and creditors are calling him for not paying for his record club subscription that he never even ordered. Larry hits rock bottom when his wife demands that he pay for the funeral for the man she was going to leave him for. With no where left to go, Larry turns to three different rabbis at his synogogue in order to determine what God is telling him.

Richly textual, the movie makes no apologies for being smart. I will be the first to admit that I didn't catch most of the biblical allusions or understand many of the Jewish phrases. (But I certainly understood the Minnesota references! The theater audience chuckled everytime a Twin Cities reference was made - such as to Ron Meshbesher or the Red Owl in Bloomington). But I don't care. Movies with layers of subtexts are the best kind to go back and watch again as you age, and gain wisdom and experience. This is the type of movie that you will take away a different interpretation with each viewing.

Many people will find this movie difficult to watch. It is slow, seems to have no point, and has an unconclusive ending (which may be an understatement). But I like movies that are more interested in the characters than in their stories. The Coen brothers drew heavily from the European New Wave traditions in this respect. Within the movie itself is a parable about a Jewish dentist who finds a message in Hebrew on the back of a patient's teeth. Wondering if this is a message from God, he visit his rabbi. The \rabbi, to the unsatisfaction of the Dentist, cannot tell him that the message means anything. It is what it is. And I think this parable is an allegory to the movie as a whole. The movie is not a story meant to give us a definitive message. Rather, it a snapshot of a character, meant to make us ponder.

A Serious Man is not the best movie I have seen this year, but it very good. Overall, I give it 3 1/2 stars and recommend that you see in theatres (rather than video).

Have you seen A Serious Man or are you planning on going? Are there any movies that you find different meanings in with each viewing? I would love to hear your thoughts!