A Serious Man

 

Larry Gropnik (Stuhlbarg) is a midwestern Jewish physics professor and 1967’s answer to Job. He has a cheating wife, an incapacitated brother, a pothead son and a disgruntled student. Oh, and there’s Jefferson Airplane, dream scenes, a 19th century prologue and the most spectacular set of movie gnashers since those worn by Richard Kiel. The Coens have in recent years become rather stale, with only No Country For Old Men standing out amongst a rather haphazard batch of comedies. This is an altogether different affair, its biblical surrealism and existential pondering closer to The Man Who Wasn’t There or Barton Fink, though frankly, it makes those films look like Jerry Bruckheimer productions: the accusation that the siblings are too clever for their own good has never been more pertinent. Thankfully, this is also their most autobiographical, and the unknown cast essays their lovingly drawn and recognisable protagonists brilliantly. Still, its randomness and wilful obscurity may be just too much for some.