Author Topic: A Serious Man  (Read 35695 times)

beuks

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A Serious Man
« on: October 05, 2009, 04:20:23 PM »
I figure someone should open discussion of the Coens' latest. My wife and I saw it last night and loved it. Definitely in the upper echelons of their films, for me, and a return to form (and to Roger Deakins) after the somewhat-more-underwhelming Burn After Reading (which I nonetheless liked). I don't agree with the criticism, shared by a handful of the "Cream of the Crop" on RottenTomatoes, that the Coens treat their characters with contempt, or that all the characters are contemptible. Reminds me of a common complaint about Arrested Development back when it was on.

Anyway, question for the group:

What do you make of the tornado at the end, and its coincidence with Danny's final attempt to pay off his classmate? The contemporaneous simultaneity (barf) of Larry's doctor calling him just as he decides to take the bribe to pay off Ron Meshbesher made sense to me, karmically. But the connection between Danny's actions and the tornado did not. Thoughts?

om57

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #1 on: October 06, 2009, 10:21:33 AM »
I think that the reason for the tornado could be that Danny had decided not to pay the money to his "friend", or at least that he wasn't doing the right thing with it (the money was stolen from his sister/father in the first place). 

I think Danny and Larry's decision is meant to be sort of parallels, the story begins with them both having money in their hands, Danny, the $20 to pay for his weed, and Larry, the large amount possibly as a bribe.  Then Danny gets his money taken away, the choice is no longer in his hands.  Larry, while deciding what to do with the tainted money, experiences a downward spiral in every aspect of his life.
Then Danny goes through his Bar Miztvah, thus becoming a man, and the Rabbi gives him his radio back, and thus puts the decision back in his hands (and tells him to be a good boy).  And now that he is an adult he can suffer consequences for his actions.
So in the final sequence we see Larry (after just receiving good news) decide to make the wrong decision and he is punished with the phone call.  Then we see Danny looking down at the money and then at the guy he is supposed to pay back, and it appears as if maybe he was about to get his attention but maybe changed his mind.  Did he also make the wrong decision?

Another sign that money could be tainted is that in the dream sequence Larry gives Arthur the money and Arthur is immediately shot in the neck.

I have read reviews where people imply that this film is about bad things happening for no reason, and that's what the Coens do.  But I think in all their films bad things tend to happen to greedy people.  The difference here is that Larry wasn't trying to be greedy.  He didn't steal the money, he did do anything as he said, but he still chose to keep the money. 

Or I'm wrong and it is a movie about how horrible things just happen.

beuks

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2009, 03:40:19 PM »
Random thought: Arthur, in Larry's dream, is shot in the location of his cyst.

Interesting thoughts, om57. I didn't necessarily read the end as Danny hesitating to pay his dealer because he wanted to keep the money, but rather because he was looking at the tornado. I could be wrong -- I need to see it again.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2009, 06:16:12 PM »
So it's in Chicago and it's in New York, but why is this not in Philly? I can maybe see why we do not have it in New Jersey yet, but it's playing in at least three different theaters in Brooklyn alone. It's clearly doing well enough to sustain a multiscreen run in the current markets, so why not more places? This sucks, I know it's going to come out next week and I'm going to have to decide between this or the CINECAST!ing WIld Things and I'm going to get frustrated and annoyed, even more so than I am now.

JadeInTheATL

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2009, 09:49:40 AM »
Random thought: Arthur, in Larry's dream, is shot in the location of his cyst.
 

There probably is a symbolic reason, but I like it for another reason. For the entire movie we been lured/repulsed by the sebaceous Cyst that we never quite see.  In this camera shot, we are finally getting to see at least the bandage and our focus is drawn to it as we satisfy our curiosity and BLAM!  I was completely startled by the shot as it hit exactly where I was focused.   Masterful...

Jade

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Re: A Serious Man - Random Thoughts and Observations
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2009, 10:20:42 AM »
On the whole, I liked this one a lot.  Thematically, it kept reminding me of some of Woody Allen's glimpses of "growing up Jewish" in so many of his films from Radio Days, to Crimes and Misdemeanors.  The bleakness of the overall message was also something it shares with some of Woody's stuff.  Though in this case, the Coen's seem to differentiate God from Religion and find them both wanting, while Woody finds that there is no God. 

It amazes me how effectively the Coen's evoke a time and place.  I grew up in the midwest and the flatlands of the neighborhood with the tract ranch homes centered the continuous carpet of fescue that seems to run together reminded me of how my neighborhood looked the first few years after it was completed.  Of course by 1967 there were chain link fences separating back yards and shrubbery defining property lines but early on, this was how it was.  I was 13 in 1967 so that puts me right at Danny's age, so I guess I can relate that way as well. 

There are other nice touches that evoke the sense of time.  The calendar over the Rabbi's shoulder has Memorial Day on a Tuesday, and since this was before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, that's the way it was.

And I just have to mention this, a simply masterful use of "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix from his Band Of Gypsys live album.

FroHam X

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Re: A Serious Man - Random Thoughts and Observations
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2009, 10:27:01 AM »
On the whole, I liked this one a lot.  Thematically, it kept reminding me of some of Woody Allen's glimpses of "growing up Jewish" in so many of his films from Radio Days, to Crimes and Misdemeanors.  The bleakness of the overall message was also something it shares with some of Woody's stuff.  Though in this case, the Coen's seem to differentiate God from Religion and find them both wanting, while Woody finds that there is no God. 

It amazes me how effectively the Coen's evoke a time and place.  I grew up in the midwest and the flatlands of the neighborhood with the tract ranch homes centered the continuous carpet of fescue that seems to run together reminded me of how my neighborhood looked the first few years after it was completed.  Of course by 1967 there were chain link fences separating back yards and shrubbery defining property lines but early on, this was how it was.  I was 13 in 1967 so that puts me right at Danny's age, so I guess I can relate that way as well. 

There are other nice touches that evoke the sense of time.  The calendar over the Rabbi's shoulder has Memorial Day on a Tuesday, and since this was before the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968, that's the way it was.

And I just have to mention this, a simply masterful use of "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix from his Band Of Gypsys live album.

Also, the best use of Don't You Want Somebody to Love since The Cable Guy.
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Harris Telemacher

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2009, 09:32:37 PM »
I just saw it, and found it interesting that Larry wasn't punished (if the call from the doctor indeed signified punishment, and not some random bad event) for his infidelity to his wife (if that happened, and wasn't just part of a dream sequence). Instead, he was punished for his lack of fidelity to intellectual rigor.

FroHam X

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2009, 09:37:49 PM »
I just saw it, and found it interesting that Larry wasn't punished (if the call from the doctor indeed signified punishment, and not some random bad event) for his infidelity to his wife (if that happened, and wasn't just part of a dream sequence). Instead, he was punished for his lack of fidelity to intellectual rigor.

I think it isn't specifically that he is being punished, but that it feels as though he is being punished. Because he tries to be "a serious man" this "punishment" only confuses him starts him on a downward spiral. Bad things are happening to him for no good reason, and they only cause him to do more bad things that will lead to more eventual bad things.

At least, that's how I read a lot of it. I do need to see it again though.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: A Serious Man
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2009, 11:10:26 AM »
It's a big Schrodinger's Cat, with God as the cat.