Movie Primer: A Serious Man

This is a short primer for the dark comedy from the Coen Brothers, A Serious Man. This film will have its wide release on October 2nd, 2009. The trailer for this film can be found at http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/aseriousman/

The Plot: Larry Gopnik is just a man trying his best to live a good life. He is a teacher that lives with his family in a Minneapolis suburb. Living the life he wants to live becomes increasingly hard as his family life and work life falls apart. His wife wants to leave him, his kids only want money and a student is trying to bribe him. All that and a neighbor who keeps sunbathing in the nude drives him to seek help from three different rabbis. This might sound pretty darn serious, and it is. But it's also quite funny in that dark and twisted sort of way.

Star Power: The directors of this film might be the biggest names in the whole bunch. The actors who are involved in this film are all lesser known actors or indie stars. Michael Stuhlbarg plays Larry Gopnik. Stuhlbarg has been in movies and TV for years but this is his biggest role. His good for nothing brother is played by Richard Kind who had roles in TV shows like Mad About You and Spin City.

Behind the Screen: Ever since No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen have become household names. If you are a fan of there more recent work this movie is going to seem a little strange. The truth is long before they were making zany films like Burn After Reading and serious dramas they made complex, interesting dark comedies like Fargo and Barton Fink. This movie feels more like classic Coen Brothers and the script that was written by the brothers is loosely based on their childhood.

What to expect: The last movie the Coen Brothers did was Burn After Reading, a very funny comedy type film. A Serious Man is being called a comedy and it is, but it is a pretty dark and twisted sort of tale. For folks like me who have been following the Coen Brothers since their first film Blood Simple this movie will be right down your alley. Its almost as if they were getting so much fame they needed to take a break and do something more personal and dark. If you had not heard of Joel and Ethan before they won an Oscar you will be surprised by this movie. I recommend you go watch Barton Fink and if you liked that, than go see Serious Man for you will be pleased.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1019452/
http://www.apple.com/trailers/focus_features/aseriousman/