A Serious Man

The newest film from the Coen Brothers marks their distinctive style, with shots that would almost seem mundane from anywhere else, dialogue that is real, distinctive and awkward. The film follow Lawrence Gopnik, an Orthodox Jewish Physics Professor as his life begins to come unraveled at the seams. He has a student attempting to bribe him for a better grade, his bid for tenure is in jeopardy when the school receives anonymous letters denigrating him, his wife is asking for a divorce so she can marry a long time family friend, his children are ungrateful and manipulative, finical troubles, etc. Needless to say, Larry Gopnik feels as though his life has suddenly come apart.

As this is going on, he continues to hear from the different people in his life that he should visit the Rabbi. His wife and her new lover, his divorce lawyer, the head of his department. The first Rabbi he sees is the underling, and gives him some strange advice about looking at things with a new perspective (Look at the parking lot Larry!). Obviously missing the problems within his life, a fresh perspective fails. The second Rabbi he sees tells him a strange story of a dentist that finds "Help me, save me" written in Hebrew on the back of a gentiles teeth. The story leads no were with no real moral, other than this dentist lets the mystery dissolve away into the past and continues on with his life. The final Rabbi he goes to see is blocked from him by a Secretary.

Needless to say the movie is very well put together, with that great dry sense of humor, wonderful shoots and vivid colors that bring almost a surreal aspect to what would other wise be something that seems almost real. I think one of this scenes that really sticks out in my head is when Larry climbs on top of his house in order to fix the antennae so his son can watch F-Troop. The vista he sees from this vantage point is of a stark suburban wasteland, his oasis in all of this is a neighbor who is sun bathing in the nude.

A common theme within the life of Larry Gopnik is that he "hasn't done anything." Which is exclaims over and over whenever something terrible is happening to him. The idea that his complacency is what should shield him from the tribulations of life is both naive and short sighted. When he goes to his Rabbi's for help with his seemingly broken life, they offer no help and have no answers, asking one "If we are to field the questions, why are we not provided with the answers?" To which the Rabbi shrugs his shoulders and smiles. Eventually, when his brother and him are living in motel, he wakes up to his brother almost violently sobbing. In the midst of his tears you hear him exclaim that God hasn't given him shit, that he is a good person and tries but God does not give him anything, at which point Larry says God won't give you anything, you must get it yourself. I felt that moment should of been an epiphany for Larry, realizing that his complaining of "I haven't done anything" is the same as his brother saying "I haven't been given shit."

As the movie climaxes, it seems as though good things are starting to happen for Larry once again. But just as soon as the good happens, there is more bad. I think this is the over all theme in the movie is that really, in the end, only you can control how you react to things, and that doing nothing is not the key to contentment. Life takes an active participant and requires more thought than people are willing to admit. Religion is a refuge for those that seeks answers, but in the end, the pillars of religious thinking are just as clueless as everyone else.

In the final analysis, I found this movie to be witty, insightful, and well put together.