Enjoy. [11] Costume designer Mary Zophres returned for her ninth collaboration with the directors. His review highlighted the film's Yiddish folktale prologue, suggesting that though the Coens maintain it has no relation to the rest of the film, "maybe because an ancestor invited a dybbuk (wandering soul) to cross his threshold, Larry is cursed. Rabbi Scott: No, of course not. "[34] Zemmelman wrote that this kind of viewer response results from the film's lack of narrative resolution: "The film is perplexing and the dialogue reminds the viewer repeatedly that we are in an encounter with the ever-conflictual and the infinitely mysterious. Go on. It's a particularly thin slice-of-life look that peers at a '60s Midwestern Jewish family as if through a microscope.Ethan Joe Queenan on weird one-offs and the directors who make them Published: 29 Nov 2009 . Nowhere in A Serious Man is there any hint of these historic events taking place contemporaneously with personal questioning of God's presence in human affairs, events that might allow for far greater perspective and understanding. Open auditions for the role of Sarah were also held in June 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. A laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong. And the rabbis he visits for advice only dole out platitudes. The first way, at face value, is how I like to watch movies. Larry turns to his Jewish faith for consolation. Listen to trailer music, OST, original score, and the full list of popular songs in the film. [13], Open auditions for the roles of Danny and Sarah were held on May 4, 2008, at the Sabes Jewish Community Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, one of the scheduled shooting locations. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job, his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome house guest. [1], A Serious Man received mostly positive reviews from critics, and holds an 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 223 reviews, with an average rating of 7.94/10. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. "[36] Awarding the film five stars in The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw said, "this strange and wonderful film is rounded off with a gloriously well-crafted apocalyptic vision and a chilling intimation of divine retribution for earthly wrongdoing. Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Larry and Sy are involved in separate, simultaneous car crashes. A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood. [50], Roger Deakins received the Best Cinematography awards at both the 2009 Hollywood Awards and the 2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, along with the Nikola Tesla Award[51] at the 2009 14th Satellite Awards. Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. Storyline Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. Having said that, I was intrigued enough by what I watched the first time to watch it again informed by the cheat sheets on quantum physics, the uncertainty principle, Werber Hiesenberg, and the super-posiition. [38], A Serious Man received numerous awards and nominations,[39][40] mostly within for Best Picture, Screenplay, Cast, and Cinematography. 16 of 21 people found this review helpful. The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, the American Film Institute, the Satellite Awards, and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards all listed the film as one of the ten best of 2009. Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence, No Country For Old Men & 9 Other Movies With No Closure. Trust me. His wife, Judith, tells him that she needs a get so she can marry widower Sy Ableman, with whom she has fallen in love. Bleeding, he exits their home into the snowy night. Sy Ableman: No one's playing the blame game here. "[27], Claudia Puig of USA Today wrote, "A Serious Man is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film. A Hollywood fixer in the 1950s works to keep the studio's stars in line. A Serious Man is a 2009 black comedy-drama film[2] written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job, his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome house guest. But both Arthur and Larry get turfed out into a motel when Larry's wife Judy, who wants a divorce, moves her lover, Sy, into the house and even after Sy's death in a car crash they are still there. The film also used a set built in the school's library, as well as small sections of the second floor science building hallway. A disk containing mysterious information from a CIA agent ends up in the hands of two unscrupulous and daft gym employees who attempt to sell it. A Serious Man on the Web:Official Website, Facebook. In the deep south during the 1930s, three escaped convicts search for hidden treasure while a relentless lawman pursues them. [9] Filming wrapped on November 6, 2008, after 44 days, ahead of schedule and within budget. This was his tenth film with them. Will the 2021 Producers Guild Awards nominations preview Oscars Best Picture line-up? The mail brings a $3,000 bill from Arthur's lawyer. Still God moves in mysterious - and not always pleasant - ways, as Larry and his family will find out. He writes, "what can happen when 'the wheel falls off the cart', as Velvel says happened to him on the road that night, or 'when the truth is found to be lies', that lyric from 'Somebody to Love' that serves as bookends for this film. Saturday Night Live: Ashton Kutcher/Them Crooked Vultures, Uptown Vision Clinic, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Gopnik can fill all the blackboards he wants, and it won't do him any good. A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961. The site's critical consensus reads, "Blending dark humor with profoundly personal themes, the Coen brothers deliver what might be their most mature—if not their best—film to date. When a childless couple of an ex-con and an ex-cop decide to help themselves to one of another family's quintuplets, their lives become more complicated than they anticipated. [6], Location filming began on September 8, 2008, in Minnesota. You don't have to be a Jew to appreciate this film. Ha! This latter perspective did provide some resolution and undoubtedly enough impressive fodder for my next cocktail party but it also left me in the "super-position" of unfixed propability and unable therefore to identify the movie as being 'good' or 'bad'. At the funeral, Sy is eulogized as "a serious man". There are two ways to watch this movie: One, taken at face value as a slice of life movie presented in the typically painful dark comic stylings of the Cohen Brothers. Groshkover arrives and laughs off the accusation, but she plunges an ice pick into his chest. Featured News. No, this isn't a violent, over-the-top blockbuster like No Country. Virtual unknown Michael Stuhlberg does a brilliant job of portraying the perplexed and put-upon Larry. The Coens also shot some scenes in St. Olaf College's old science building because of its similar period architecture. [5] The film's look is partly based on the Brad Zellar book Suburban World: The Norling Photographs, a collection of photographs of Bloomington in the 1950s and 60s. In which case, the writing, acting, story line (and lack of deus ex machina there in) about a put upon drudge in 1960's suburban Minnesota will not disappoint. Title: K. L. Evans wrote, "we identify it as a Job story because its central character is tormented by his failure to account for the miseries that befall him". Judith empties the couple's bank accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a divorce attorney. While her husband is away on business, Larry calls on his neighbor, Vivienne Samsky, whom he has seen sunbathing naked, and she introduces him to marijuana. Larry faces an impending vote on his application for tenure, and his department head lets slip that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. I like a good denouement phase as will as the next guy but when you have to have someone else explain it in order to appreciate it, it morphs into something else. It is, in my humble opinion, art in it's purest form. Where was A Serious Man filmed Minneapolis, USA - 2 film locations Office scene (Normandale Community College) was filmed in 9700 France Ave S Minneapolis, MN, USA (by Rebecca Fl) School was filmed in 5034 Oliver Avenue North Minneapolis, MN (by Rebecca Fl) [11], The Coens themselves stated that the "germ" of the story was a rabbi from their adolescence: a "mysterious figure" who had a private conversation with each student at the conclusion of their religious education. The Uncertainty Principle. He consults two rabbis but his synagogue's senior rabbi, Marshak, is never available. Set in 1967,[3] the film stars Michael Stuhlbarg as a Minnesota Jewish man whose life crumbles both professionally and personally, leading him to questions about his faith. After he leaves, Larry finds an envelope stuffed with cash. (2009). A Serious Man seems designed to baffle, but it actually lingers long after its small, sly jokes and plot complications finish. The Coens have finished the noughties as America's preeminent filmmakers". With lawyers' bills mounting for his divorce, Arthur's criminal court appearances and a land feud with a neighbour Larry is tempted to take the bribe offered by a student to give him an illegal exam pass mark. Other nominations for Best Original Screenplay include acknowledgment from the Writers Guild of America Awards, BAFTA,[42] the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 15th Annual Critic's Choice Awards[43] and the 2010 Boston Society of Film Critics.[44]. The Coen Brothers' 'A Serious Man' begins with a bizarre prologue set in Poland a century removed from the main story. "[33] David Denby of The New Yorker enjoyed the film's look and feel, but found fault with the script and characterization: "A Serious Man, like Burn After Reading, is in their bleak, black, belittling mode, and it's hell to sit through ... As a piece of movie-making craft, A Serious Man is fascinating; in every other way, it's intolerable. A Serious Man (2009) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. See what I did there? View production, box office, & company info. Like the loose Odyssey frame of O Brother, the Book of Job format of A Serious Man is capacious enough to accommodate almost any indignity. Meanwhile, their son Danny owes twenty dollars to an intimidating Hebrew school classmate for marijuana. The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. Was this review helpful to you? We take a look back at cinematic history and celebrate Asian Pacific American filmmakers and their visionary work. He later dreams that he is having sex with her, but this turns into another nightmare. A Serious Man Photos. A Serious Man may be getting rave reviews – but it's like nothing the Coens have made before. I … If you don't already get these guys, the doors of enlightenment aren't going to suddenly swing open for you now. The synagogue is the B'nai Emet Synagogue in St. Louis Park. The film attracted a positive critical response, including a Golden Globe Award nomination for Stuhlbarg, a place on both the American Film Institute's and National Board of Review's Top 10 Film Lists of 2009, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Underlying the grim humor are serious questions about faith, family, mortality and misfortune. Six tales of life and violence in the Old West, following a singing gunslinger, a bank robber, a traveling impresario, an elderly prospector, a wagon train, and a perverse pair of bounty hunters. It's a quiet but engaging film that explore man's relationship with God--from a Jewish perspective. Larry decides to change Clive's grade from F to C−, whereupon Larry's doctor calls, asking to see him immediately about the results of a chest X-ray. But Larry is not purely a devoted man who worships God and is … At Judith's insistence, Larry pays for Sy's funeral. It proves we can't ever really know... what's going on. View All Photos (18) A Serious Man Quotes. [37], A Serious Man was later voted the 82nd greatest film since 2000 in a BBC international critics' poll. Review by Payson Johnson ★★★★★ Decided to rate this film first simply not only do I wish more would watch it, but I wish more people would rewatch it. 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