Thursday, Mar. 11, 2010

A Serious Man

The Coen Brothers have said that this is their true story, only it's fiction. Based loosely on their childhood and their father in late '60s Minneapolis, "A Serious Man" is another dark comedy from the siblings who have always done exactly what they wanted to do in their career since 1984. Sometimes, that is a great thing, offering so many award-winning, quotable films too many to list here and still stay within the allotted word-count. The difference with this movie and all those others is there is nothing that shakes us. The performances and unique dialogue are present. The crafty camerawork and weird plot-shifts are present. What is absent? The presence of dominant actors. Without George Clooney, Jeff Bridges or Tommy Lee Jones or any of the dozen others that they have sculpted into their past story-arcs, it just feels flat. The film deals with a middle-aged teacher, a Jewish family man who goes through a series of events that send him spiraling out of control. He attempts to gain a foothold on his life by being, "a serious man." It does aspire to tell a story as simply as possible and in doing so; you know why that simplicity earned it two Oscar nominations, including one for best film. A must-see for Coen Brothers fans who remember or enjoyed 2001's forgettable "The Man Who Wasn't There" or for those of you out there compelled to watch every film that even grazes an Oscar ballot. All others...be warned.