A Serious Man

[rsbeck]

Should be retitled A Serious Waste of Time.

This is the Coen Brothers in their Barton Fink mode. This is the mode where they take a main character that we don't really care about and then find all kinds of bleak, anti-climactic, dead-pan, shaggy dog ways to make his life miserable under the notion that this will be funny, if you know what they mean.

Critics, for the most part, seem hell bent on knowing what they mean. This pile got something like a 150% on the Tomato Meter. It was actually nominated for Best Picture. The reviews are more funny than the movie.

If you read them, it's clear the reviewers have no idea what this movie is trying to accomplish. I think the Coens have simply entered the realm that some artists reach where critics are afraid to stand up and say, "I didn't get it."

I have loved the Coen Brothers' films for a long time, starting with Blood Simple, but not all of their films.

Every once in awhile they make a real clinker.

On this one, it's time to say the emperor ain't wearing any skivvies.

 

[Steve Williams]

Should be retitled A Serious Waste of Time.

This is the Coen Brothers in their Barton Fink mode. This is the mode where they take a main character that we don't really care about and then find all kinds of bleak, anti-climactic, dead-pan, shaggy dog ways to make his life miserable under the notion that this will be funny, if you know what they mean.

Critics, for the most part, seem hell bent on knowing what they mean. This pile got something like a 150% on the Tomato Meter. It was actually nominated for Best Picture. The reviews are more funny than the movie.

If you read them, it's clear the reviewers have no idea what this movie is trying to accomplish. I think the Coens have simply entered the realm that some artists reach where critics are afraid to stand up and say, "I didn't get it."

I have loved the Coen Brothers' films for a long time, starting with Blood Simple, but not all of their films.

Every once in awhile they make a real clinker.

On this one, it's time to say the emperor ain't wearing any skivvies.

Rob

I saw the movie because like you they have made some truly great movies many of which won Oscars but when my wife and I left the theater I just couldn't believe that I wasted both my time and money.
The SF Chronicle would show their emoticon as an empty seat for a review which is that bad that you cannot even sleep through. As always you are right on in your reviews.

 

[markc2]

accept the mystery

Larry Gopnik: So he *did* leave the money.
Clive's Father: This is defamation!
Larry Gopnik: It doesn't make sense. Either he left the money or he didn't.
Clive's Father: Please. Accept the mystery.
Larry Gopnik: You can't have it both ways!
Clive's Father: Why not?

Something about the way this movie flowed, and I think the line "accept the mystery" was the gist of the movie. Some things are just unknowable. How we want to give meaning to things, that just might not have any meaning. Seems like a tough subject to tackle for a movie.

This movie was a nice change of pace, don't want every movie to be like this but it's good to have one of these for a 2am film, along with Donnie Darko.

Mark

 

[rrr]

This movie was a nice change of pace, don't want every movie to be like this

Mark

I agree more with the second part of your observation than the first part!

 

[rsbeck]

I'm going to throw an idea in here.

I think every artist who depends on an audience has to do battle with that relationship in some way or another

Some surrender by pandering.

Some make peace with it by creating work to satisfy the artist's own itch and letting the chips fall where they may.

Some struggle with it and form a kind of passive aggressive relationship with the audience. When this happens, I've seen artists take joy in frustrating the audience, making inside jokes the audience cannot possibly understand, or by simply refusing to make sense.

It's like that old prank kids used to play where they would lead you on a really long build-up and the punch line to the joke would be, "no soap, radio." This punch line was not a mystery, it was intentional nonsense. The joke was on you for sitting there and listening.

Sometimes it's a fine line between creating an absurdity that illustrates a higher truth and creating a piece of nonsense out of a need to sneer at the people whom the artist feels he needs, but secretly hates because the audience holds in its hand the power of approval. The message, IMO, is -- look how dumb you are for watching this and how superior I am because I can not only make you watch it, but I can laugh at you again when you try to pretend you get it.

This, to me, is what A Serious Man is.

Just my opinion.