A Serious Man

For some reason, this movie rubbed me the wrong way. I'm not quite sure why. It has many of the usual Coen Bros. ingredients that I like. However, there is a key difference. Usually, they make movies based on a genre. This one feels completely original. There were times when I felt like I had never quite seen a movie like this one so I guess I have to give it points for that but I was happy when it ended. A lot of this felt like a cosmic joke - right down to the ending when they end it right when the suspense gets revved up. Sometimes their movies feel like a big joke on the audience. Most of the time I enjoy that aspect of their movies. However, I wasn't in the mood when I saw this.

I know it was supposed to be funny throughout but I found it hard to watch. Not that it was depressing per se but I was really turned off by pretty much all of the characters.

It is supposed to grapple with the big questions in life I guess - Coen Bros. style. Maybe my life is so chaotic these days that I simply want to watch things like How I Met Your Mother. Perhaps I would like this more if I saw it again. In fact, I'm sure that I would. But for me, right now, in the fall of '09, this movie didn't do anything for me.

Or perhaps the reason I couldn't get into this was that I'm a self hating Jew who has a hard time watching a movie made by other self hating Jews.

In fact, now that it has been a couple of weeks since I've seen this, there are definitely parts to it that make me laugh when I think back on it. Damn, looks like I need to see it again at some point.

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
2009
Cobble Hill Cinemas