A Serious Man

BySheikh Javed Mansuri
A Serious Man

This dark comedy from Joel & Ethan Coen is a distillation of some of the duo’s most potent themes. Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is our Job figure, a physics professor in suburban Minneapolis who finds his life falling apart both personally and professionally. The principle of uncertainty, introduced early in the film via Schroedinger’s famous cat, becomes a kind of guiding metaphor as Larry navigates the limits of 1960s Jewish faith. Both riotously funny and tempted towards the nihilistic, A Serious Man isn’t ultimately concerned with theodicy or the existence of God; Hashem’s presence is taken for granted. Rather, the question is “What does he want from me?” and even more frighteningly, “Does it really matter?” – Anders Bergstrom (2014)

  1. Directed by: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
  2. Produced by: mDKHWRbK2_Q
  3. Written by: Joel Coen Ethan Coen
  4. Music by: Carter Burwell
  5. Cinematography by: Roger Deakins
  6. Editing by: Ethan Coen Joel Coen
  7. Release Date: 2009
  8. Running Time: 105
  9. Language: English, Yiddish

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2020 Top 100 — #68

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