A Serious Man Seriously Disappoints

By Laura Noble
lnoble@smu.edu

Didn’t Do Anything should be the name of the Coen Brothers latest film A Serious Man.

The movie does nothing but depress as the audience watches the solid Jewish cast of characters wallow in self-pity and lament over the consequences and meaning of their apathetic, sepia lives while the mantra, “but I didn’t do anything” is constantly repeated.

The film tracks the dysfunctional, yet mind-numbingly mundane life of university physics professor Larry Gopnik living in 1967 Minnesota with his soon-to-be-bar-mitzvah-ed son, Danny; angsty teenage daughter, Sarah; and cheating wife, Judith.

Categorically, the film would fall under dark comedy, but many of the pitch-black jokes are sure to be lost on those non-temple-going citizens.

Following the typical Coen mold, scenes transition with a beat-heavy soundtrack of ’60s rock anthems painted over various generic character interactions or blank stares seemingly to force a sense of irony.

Despite all of its surface level and almost caricature visuals depicting everyday life in middle Jewish America, the film on a whole is par for the Coen course in terms of maintaining an ultra-abstract feel.

For one, there’s the opening vignette in Yiddish (with subtitles) of an ancient Jewish couple in Poland who are visited by a ghost.

Then, there is a bizarre set of characters ranging from Judith Gopnik’s Barry-White-voiced-lover Sy Ableman and his metaphoric presence in Larry’s life to the lingering company of an Asian graduate student trying to bribe Gopnik for a passing physics grade.

Every character has a glaring meaning and spiritual significance in Gopnik’s life.

Trying to decipher who means what to whom though takes a lot of time and attention away from what otherwise should be a simple movie about how humans cope with what life throws at them.

One of the only points of light in this God-seeking, 105-minute journey comes from the acting.

The Tony Award nominated Michael Stuhlbarg’s portrayal of the protagonist Larry Gopnik manages to garner emotion and empathy from the audience for a character that, no matter how hard he tries, can’t seem to come by a happy and simple life— not to mention Stuhlbarg also bares an uncanny resemblance to Walk the Line hunk Joaquin Phoenix.

Another almost saving grace is that the film culminates to a position where most can relate to the basic human needs, wants and realities on display.

This universal connection is one that should make the film meaningful in some way.

Instead, the hopeless, futile and mucus-filled painting of mankind leaves behind a taste of resentment and almost anger.