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Three people live under their roof. Son Danny (Aaron Wolff) owes twenty dollars to an intimidating [[Hebrew school]] marijuana dealer, but the bill is hidden in a transistor radio since confiscated by his teacher. Their daughter is always doing her hair. Larry's brother Arthur ([[Richard Kind]]) sleeps on the couch and spends his free time filling a notebook with an extravagant theory that will, he claims, tie together all natural laws.
Three people live under their roof. Son Danny (Aaron Wolff) owes twenty dollars to an intimidating [[Hebrew school]] marijuana dealer, but the bill is hidden in a transistor radio since confiscated by his teacher. Their daughter is always doing her hair. Larry's brother Arthur ([[Richard Kind]]) sleeps on the couch and spends his free time filling a notebook with an extravagant theory that will, he claims, tie together all natural laws.


Larry faces an impending vote on his application for tenure and his department head lets slip that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. A Korean student, Clive (David Kang), about to flunk Larry's class and lose his scholarship, plants in Larry's office an envelope stuffed with cash. When Larry attempts to return it, student and father bridle at the suggestion of bribery. But they threaten to sue for defamation if he doesn't give a passing grade.
Larry faces an impending vote on his application for [[tenure]] and his department head lets slip that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. A Korean student, Clive (David Kang), about to flunk Larry's class and lose his scholarship, plants in Larry's office an envelope stuffed with cash. When Larry attempts to return it, student and father bridle at the suggestion of bribery. But they threaten to sue for [[defamation]] if he doesn't give a passing grade.


At the insistence of Judith and Sy, Larry and Arthur move into a nearby motel, the “Jolly Roger”. Judith has emptied the couple's accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a sympathetic divorce attorney ([[Adam Arkin]]). Arthur is arrested for solicitation.
At the insistence of Judith and Sy, Larry and Arthur move into a nearby motel, the “Jolly Roger”. Judith has emptied the couple's accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a sympathetic divorce attorney ([[Adam Arkin]]). Arthur is arrested for [[solicitation]].


To cope with his streak of bad luck, Larry turns to the faith. The two [[rabbi]]s he consults are either obtuse, oblivious or obscure. The senior rabbi is never available. Larry's [[spiritual crisis]] reaches a breaking point when he and Sy are involved in seemingly simultaneous car crashes miles apart. Larry is unharmed, but Sy is killed.
To cope with his streak of bad luck, Larry turns to the faith. The two [[rabbi]]s he consults are either obtuse, oblivious or obscure. The senior rabbi is never available. Larry's [[spiritual crisis]] reaches a breaking point when he and Sy are involved in seemingly simultaneous car crashes miles apart. Larry is unharmed, but Sy is killed.

Revision as of 13:03, 3 September 2010

A Serious Man
A man standing on the roof of a house
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Coen
Ethan Coen
Written by
  • Ethan Coen
  • Joel Coen
Produced by
  • Ethan Coen
  • Joel Coen
Starring
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Edited byRoderick Jaynes
Music byCarter Burwell
Production
companies
Distributed byFocus Features
Release date
  • October 2, 2009 (2009-10-02)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryTemplate:FilmUS
Languages
Budget$7 million
Box office$31,312,437[1]

A Serious Man is a 2009 black comedy film written, produced, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. The film stars Michael Stuhlbarg, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamed, Richard Kind, and Amy Landecker and tells the story of an ordinary man who has to cope with undeserved trials that challenge his acceptance of an orderly universe overseen by an attentive deity. The film has attracted a highly positive critical response, including a Golden Globe nomination for Stuhlbarg, a place on both the American Film Institute's and National Board of Review's Top 10 Film Lists of 2009, and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Plot

A Polish shtetl, early 20th century: a Jewish man, Velvel (Allen Lewis Rickman), tells his wife, Dora (Yelena Shmuelenson) that he had been helped on his way home by Reb Groshkover (Fyvush Finkel), whom he has invited in for soup. Dora objects that Groshkover is dead, and that this visitor must be a "dybbuk." When he arrives, Groshkover laughs off this accusation, but Dora plunges an icepick into his chest. Bleeding, he goes back out into the snowy night.

Minnesota, 1967:[2][3] Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is a Jewish professor of physics. His wife Judith (Sari Lennick) informs him that she needs a get (a Jewish divorce document), so she can marry widower Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed).

Three people live under their roof. Son Danny (Aaron Wolff) owes twenty dollars to an intimidating Hebrew school marijuana dealer, but the bill is hidden in a transistor radio since confiscated by his teacher. Their daughter is always doing her hair. Larry's brother Arthur (Richard Kind) sleeps on the couch and spends his free time filling a notebook with an extravagant theory that will, he claims, tie together all natural laws.

Larry faces an impending vote on his application for tenure and his department head lets slip that anonymous letters have urged the committee to deny him. A Korean student, Clive (David Kang), about to flunk Larry's class and lose his scholarship, plants in Larry's office an envelope stuffed with cash. When Larry attempts to return it, student and father bridle at the suggestion of bribery. But they threaten to sue for defamation if he doesn't give a passing grade.

At the insistence of Judith and Sy, Larry and Arthur move into a nearby motel, the “Jolly Roger”. Judith has emptied the couple's accounts, leaving Larry penniless, so he enlists the services of a sympathetic divorce attorney (Adam Arkin). Arthur is arrested for solicitation.

To cope with his streak of bad luck, Larry turns to the faith. The two rabbis he consults are either obtuse, oblivious or obscure. The senior rabbi is never available. Larry's spiritual crisis reaches a breaking point when he and Sy are involved in seemingly simultaneous car crashes miles apart. Larry is unharmed, but Sy is killed.

On the day of Danny's bar mitzvah, he struggles through the ceremony despite a bad case of nerves and marijuana intoxication. Larry appears proud and moved by what he sees. Judith apologizes to Larry for all the trouble that has occurred recently, and informs him that Sy liked him so much that he even wrote letters to Larry's tenure committee. Following his bar mitzvah Danny is led into the senior rabbi's office. The rabbi retrieves Danny's radio from a desk drawer and slides it over to him, counseling Danny to "be a good boy."

Larry's department head compliments Larry on Danny's bar mitzvah and hints that he will win tenure. Upon receiving the bill for Arthur's criminal lawyer he decides to pass Clive. His doctor calls, asking to see him immediately to talk about the results of a chest X-ray. At the same time, Danny's teacher struggles to open the school's shelter door as a massive tornado bears down on them.

Cast and characters

  • Michael Stuhlbarg as Larry Gopnik; an actor relatively unknown to film audiences, Stuhlbarg was cast on the strength of his theatrical work in New York. He initially auditioned for the prologue but was called back to read for the parts of Arthur and Larry, eventually winning the lead role.[2]
  • Richard Kind as Arthur Gopnik
  • Sari Wagner Lennick as Judith Gopnik; Lennick was inspired by the confidence the Coens had in her; they consulted her on the character details and allowed her to make the character her own.[2]
  • Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman
  • Aaron Wolff as Danny Gopnik
  • Jessica McManus as Sarah Gopnik
  • Alan Mandell as Rabbi Marshak
  • Adam Arkin as Don Milgram
  • George Wyner as Rabbi Nachtner
  • Amy Landecker as Mrs. Vivienne Samsky; in an interview with actress Landecker, she said that the first name of Mrs. Samsky is in fact Vivienne and was based on a real neighbor of the Coen brothers
  • Katherine Borowitz as Mimi Nudell
  • Allen Lewis Rickman as Velvel
  • Yelena Shmuelenson as Dora
  • Fyvush Finkel as the "Dybbuk?" (of Reb Groshkover)
  • Simon Helberg as Rabbi Scott Ginzler
  • Andrew S. Lentz as Mark Sallerson
  • Jack Swiler as Howard Altar
  • Tim Harlan-Marks as Hebrew school bus driver
  • Benjy Portnoe as Ronnie Nudell
  • Brent Braunschweig as Mitch Brandt
  • Ari Hoptman as Arlen Finkle
  • Michael Lerner as Solomon Schlutz
  • David Kang as Clive
  • Steve Park as Clive's father

Open auditions for the roles of Danny and Sarah were held on May 4, 2008, at the Sabes Jewish Community Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, one of the scheduled shooting locations for the film. Open auditions for the role of Sarah were also held in June 2008 in Chicago, Illinois.[2][4]

Production

Considerable attention was paid to the setting; it was important to the Coens to find a neighborhood of original-looking suburban rambler homes as they would have appeared in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, in the late 1960s. Locations were scouted in nearby communities Edina, Richfield, Brooklyn Center, and Hopkins[5] before a suitable location was found in Bloomington.[6] The look of the film is partly based on the Brad Zellar book Suburban World: The Norling Photographs, a collection of photographs of Bloomington in the 1950s and 60s.[7]

Longtime collaborator Roger Deakins rejoined the Coen brothers as cinematographer, following his absence from Burn After Reading. This is the tenth film he has worked on with the Coen brothers.[8] Costume designer Mary Zophres returns for her ninth collaboration with the directors.[8]

The Yiddish story that introduces the film was created by the Coen Brothers, as they did not find any folk tales they thought were suitable. They note the story has no developmental relationship to what follows other than to set the tone.[2] Roger Ebert interpreted the faux folk tale at the beginning of the movie as the couple seen in the folk tale are Larry's ancestors and may through their action toward the Visitor have introduced a curse or a strain of sin into the family tree, as Yiddish folk belief would have construed the story.[9] A portrait of Reb Groshkover is glimpsed on the wall outside the Rabbi Marshak's office later in the film.

The tornado seen bearing down on Minneapolis at the film's climax was inspired by the 1967 Southern Minnesota tornado outbreak, and by the whirlwind in the Book of Job.

Location filming began on September 8, 2008, in Minnesota. An office scene was shot at Normandale Community College in Bloomington. The film also used a set built in the school's library, as well as a small section of the second floor science building hallway. The synagogue is the B'nai Emet Synagogue in St. Louis Park. The Coen brothers also shot some scenes in St. Olaf College's old science building because of its similar period architecture.[10][11] Scenes were also shot at the Minneapolis legal offices of Meshbesher & Spence, with founder and president Ronald I. Meshbesher being mentioned as the criminal lawyer hired by Larry in the film.[12] Filming wrapped on November 6, 2008, after 44 days, ahead of schedule and within budget.[13]

Anachronisms are evident in the film with references to two albums, Carlos Santana's Abraxas and Creedence Clearwater Revival's Cosmo's Factory, both of which were released in 1970.

The ending credits contain an easter-egg: "No Jews were harmed during the making of this picture."[14]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is composed by Carter Burwell (who has composed the music for all the Coens' movies). Some of the songs featured in the film include "Somebody to Love" by Jefferson Airplane, "Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix, and some pieces of Yiddish Music including Dem Milner's Trem by "Sidor Belarsky". The film's Original Motion Picture Soundtrack also includes two other Jefferson Airplane songs, which are "Comin' Back To Me" and "Today".

Release

The film had a limited release on October 2, 2009, in the United States. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival[15] on September 12, 2009.[16]

A Serious Man was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on February 9, 2010.

Reception

As of February 10, 2010, it has had worldwide gross earnings of $31,312,437[1] It has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with an aggregate score of 88% from Rotten Tomatoes, based on 173 reviews.[17] Roger Ebert, of the Chicago Sun-Times, rated the film four out of four stars, feeling that it "bears every mark of a labor of love,"[9] and Variety's Todd McCarthy commented that "the Coens' filmmaking skills are sharply attentive," and that A Serious Man is "the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar".[18] Claudia Puig of USA Today writes, "A Serious Man is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film. Underlying the grim humor are serious questions about faith, family, mortality and misfortune."[19] Time critic Richard Corliss describes it as "disquieting" and "haunting."[20] Christy Lemire called it "the Coens' most thoughtful and personal film" and gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four.[21]

The St. Petersburg Times's Steve Persall wrote that it was a retelling of the Jewish biblical story of Job in the modern American era.[22][23] The Wall Street Journal's Joe Morgenstern disliked what he saw as misanthropy in the film, saying that "...their caricatures range from dis-likable through despicable, with not a smidgen of humanity to redeem them."[24] David Denby from The New Yorker enjoyed the look and feel of the film, but found fault with the script and characterization: "A Serious Man, like Burn After Reading, is in their bleak, black, belittling mode, and it's hell to sit through... As a piece of movie-making craft, A Serious Man is fascinating; in every other way, it's intolerable."[25]

Awards

Richard Kind holds the Robert Altman Award given to the film at the Independent Spirit Awards in Los Angeles

Michael Stuhlbarg was awarded the Chaplin Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and nominated for Best Actor in the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards. Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed and Sari Lennick were nominated for a Gotham Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Ellen Chenoweth, Rachel Tenner, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamed, Michael Stuhlbarg, Aaron Wolff and Jessica McManus were awarded the Robert Altman Spirit Award by Film Independent, for Excellence in Collaborative Cinematic Achievement by Directors, Casting Directors and an Ensemble Cast. Roger Deakins received the Best Cinematography awards at both the 2009 Hollywood Awards and the 2009 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards, as well as the Nikola Tesla Award at the Satellite Awards and the Best Cinematography award at the Independent Spirit Awards. A Serious Man is nominated for an MPSE Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing: Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film.

Joel and Ethan Coen were awarded Best Original Screenplay at the 2009 National Board of Review Awards and Best Original Screenplay from the National Society of Film Critics Awards 2009, they have been nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay and the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. A Serious Man is nominated for Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay in the Broadcast Film Critics Association's 15th Annual Critics' Choice Awards, and by the Boston Society of Film Critics, Best Picture by the Chicago Film Critics Association. The film was listed as one of the ten best films of 2009 by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, the American Film Institute, the Satellite Awards and the Southeastern Film Critics Association Awards.

A Serious Man was nominated for Best Original Screenplay (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) and Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards. BBC News called it "one of the less talked about nominees" for Best Picture; they also noted that lead actor Michael Stuhlbarg received his invitation to the ceremony at the last minute.[26]

References

  1. ^ a b "A Serious Man". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e yanayak (August 15, 2009). "A Serious Man Production Notes". Film in Focus. Focus Features. p. 9. Retrieved December 1, 2009. We thought a little self-contained story would be an appropriate introduction for this movie. Since we didn't know any suitable Yiddish folk tales, we made one up.
  3. ^ "Interview: Joel and Ethan Coen On A Serious Man". cinemablend.com. Retrieved 2010-01-28.
  4. ^ "Coens cast about to fill three roles in 'A Serious Man'". Minneapolis Star Tribune. April 25, 2008. Retrieved 18 February 2010. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  5. ^ Campbell, Tim (September 28, 2007). "Coen brothers to get 'Serious' in Minnesota". Star Tribune. Retrieved November 22, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ Covert, Colin (September 6, 2008). "In Twin Cities, Coen brothers shoot from heart". Star Tribune. Retrieved November 22, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Serious' film was nostalgic pleasure for Coen brothers". Twincities.com. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  8. ^ a b "Production Begins on the Coen's A Serious Man". Comingsoon.net. Retrieved September 9, 2008.
  9. ^ a b Ebert, Roger (October 7, 2009). "A Serious Man". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved November 22, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ Henke, David (August 19, 2008). "Coen brothers will use St. Olaf for movie". Northfield News. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  11. ^ Gonnerman, David (October 9, 2008). "St. Olaf gets 'Serious'". St. Olaf College News. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  12. ^ C.J. (October 2, 2009). "Meshbesher's star turn". Minneapolis Star Tribune. StarTribune.com. Retrieved 2009-10-01.
  13. ^ "It's a wrap! Coen brothers' latest film is in the can". StarTribune.com. Retrieved November 11, 2008.
  14. ^ http://squallyshowers.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/a-serious-man/
  15. ^ Evans, Ian (2009). "A Serious Man premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival". DigitalHit.com. Retrieved December 12, 2009.
  16. ^ "Oscar-winning Coens head home with "A Serious Man"". Reuters. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
  17. ^ "A Serious Man (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  18. ^ McCarthy, Todd (September 11, 2009). "A Serious Man". Variety. Retrieved November 22, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ Puig, Claudia. "'A Serious Man' is a seriously good departure for Coens". USA Today. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  20. ^ "A Serious Man: The Coen Brothers' Jewish Question". TIME. September 12, 2009. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  21. ^ "Seriously funny troubles abound in `Serious Man'". Associated Press. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  22. ^ Persall, Steve (November 1, 2009). "Coen brothers' 'A Serious Man' has troubles of Job without uplift". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved November 22, 2009.
  23. ^ Philip French (November 22, 2009). "A Serious Man". London: The Guardian. Retrieved November 26, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ "'A Serious Man'". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 2, 2009.
  25. ^ Denby, David. "Gods and Victims: "A Serious Man" and "Capitalism: A Love Story."". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 2, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  26. ^ Tim Masters (March 7 , 2010). "Cast of Coen Brothers comedy mull Oscar chances". BBC News. Retrieved 2010-03-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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