A Serious Man

WARNING: This review is hidden because it reveals the content of the film.
Click here to show this review. You dont have to be a Jew to appreciate Joel and Ethan Coen's latest depiction of their own universe. Larry Gopnick is seriously a serious man, looking for the meaning of life when bad things pile up around him. Two weeks to go until his son's Barmitzvah; his wife wants to get a divorce - or a get - so she can remarry with a friend of the family; his brother, who sleeps on the couch, has problem with authorities; a Korean student tries to bribe him; one neighbor looks like a psychopath and the other is a sexy sex-addict. He has to ask Rabbis to figure all of this out. The Coens's vision in A Serious Man is similar to the one in Fargo, in the way that it's a caricature, but never makes fun. The prologue is actually very interesting, its all in Yiddish, very effective, and funny. One thing that makes this film work even better is the casting, mostly unknowns by the general movie-going public. Michael Stuhlbarg in the lead is terrific, always on the edge of exploding in anger but keeping it all inside and being a sweet man. Behind all this craziness hides a more profound meaning. Another very good film from the Coen brothers.