A Seriously Underwhelming Coen Brothers Movie
The Coen brothers return with their most awkwardly intimate film yet. Also under review: Barack Obama and his Nobel Peace Prize.
By Cord Jefferson and Becca Russell-Einhorn
October 16, 2009
Very serious. (allmoviephoto.com)
A Serious Man
Mike Zoss Productions
Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Release date: Oct. 2, 2009
A Serious Man is perhaps the best film I’ve ever seen that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to my friends. It’s beautifully shot, masterfully edited and almost perfectly acted—all of which is par for the course for a Coen brothers project—but its subject, the agonizing downward spiral of a Jewish college professor’s whole life, was for me too intensely sad and personal to enjoy, almost like a 90-minute inside joke with no punchline.
Set in a Midwestern Jewish suburb in the late 1960s, Man essentially retools the story of Job, a biblical tale in which a man’s entire life is ruined because of a petty bet between God and Satan. As his family, his money, and his happiness are slowly stripped away from him like layers of skin, Job is expected by Beelzebub to forsake God. Ever-penitent, however, Job never curses the Lord for his shoddy luck, choosing instead to ask what he’s done to deserve such a terrible set of circumstances.
In this case, Job is physics professor Larry Gopnik, whose life deteriorates in the film: his wife leaves him for a condescending jerk, his bratty kids ignore him, his pupils threaten him, his tormented brother mooches off him, and his neighbor, a macho gentile, harasses him. Exacerbating everything is that, as his life turns to shambles, Gopnik’s pleas for serious spiritual advice go unanswered by not one, not two, but three rabbis. It’s painful to watch, and, unless you yourself have tortured memories of Hebrew school and your bar or bat mitzvah, it’s very rarely as funny as other Coen brothers films.
In the end, it’s difficult to tell whether the Coens are advocating atheism or faith with this movie. In parts, it seems so anti-religion it can come off as anti-Semitic, what with rabbis who can’t be bothered to counsel their flock and a synagogue full of selfish, soup-slurping ninnies. Then again, despite it all, Larry, mensch that he is, stays the course, accepting the hand he’s dealt and never abandoning his faith. He’s a serious man; now if only God wouldn’t screw with him so much.
6 out of 10 undeserved hellstorms.
-Cord Jefferson
Maybe Obama does deserve it, and besides, he Bo’s birthday is more important (whitehouse.gov)
Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Stockholm, Sweden
Oct. 9, 2009
Facebook and Twitter have been abuzz this week with the news that Barack Obama, not yet a year into his presidency, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Glenn Beck, representing the right as well as his own breed of crazy, said that Obama should have refused the award and given it to tea party goers and the 9/12 project. Ezra Klein, token leftist of the Washington Post, tweeted jokingly on Monday, “Obama also awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry. ‘He’s just got great chemistry,’ says Nobel Committee.”
Since the hardest part of being a progressive knowing how to react in this situation is, I thought I’d remind you of a few reasons why Obama does deserve it, and why you, the progressive, should just smile about it.
First on the list is Obama’s decisive proclamation that Kanye West is a jackass, therefore putting an end to the Taylor Swift VMA Massacre of 2009. Second, the president brandished a lightsaber outside the White House, giving hope to nerds everywhere. Lastly, Obama promised on David Letterman that he would not let Apple make a new iPod right after you bought the latest iPod. Is that not peace?
But rather than looking to the right or the left or even my own list for how we should react to this monumental surprise, I say we look no further than Obama’s own wise daughters, 11-year-old Malia and 8-year-old Sasha. Upon learning of their father’s accomplishment, Malia said, "Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize and it is Bo’s birthday!" Sasha added, “Plus, we have [Columbus Day] weekend coming up.” There’s your answer: Stop worrying about Obama and go celebrate your dog’s birthday and leisure time.
6 of out 10 canine birthdays that are more important than winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
-Becca Russell-Einhorn
Cord Jefferson is an associate editor at Campus Progress. Becca Russell-Einhorn is a regular contributor to Campus Progress and a senior at Pomona College.
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