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Serious Man (A)
- Director: Ethan Coen; Joel Coen
- Writer: Joel Coen; Ethan Coen
- Producer: Tim Bevan; Ethan Coen
CGiii Comment
It's dark and bleak and very, very Jewish.
The Coen brothers do Woody Allen with quantum physics, uncertainty and duality.
It is not a simple comedy in the slightest - an acquired taste for those who enjoy complex character studies.
If you get it - you'll love it.
If not, well, that's just sad.
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Bloomington, Minnesota, 1967: Jewish physics lecturer Larry Gopnik is a serious and a very put-upon man. His daughter is stealing from him to save up for a nose job, his pot-head son, who gets stoned at his own bar-mitzvah, only wants him round to fix the TV aerial and his useless brother Arthur is an unwelcome house guest. But both Arthur and Larry get turfed out into a motel when Larry's wife Judy, who wants a divorce, moves her lover, Sy, into the house and even after Sy's death in a car crash they are still there. With lawyers' bills mounting for his divorce, Arthur's criminal court appearances and a land feud with a neighbour Larry is tempted to take the bribe offered by a student to give him an illegal exam pass mark. And the rabbis he visits for advice only dole out platitudes. Still God moves in mysterious - and not always pleasant - ways, as Larry and his family will find out.
Cast & Characters
Michael Stuhlbarg as Prof. Lawrence 'Larry' Gopnik;
Richard Kind as Uncle Arthur;
Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman;
Sari Lennick as Judith Gopnik;
Aaron Wolff as Danny Gopnik;
Jessica McManus as Sarah Gopnik;
Peter Breitmayer as Mr. Brandt;
Brent Braunschweig as Mitch Brandt;
David Kang as Clive Park;
Benjy Portnoe as Danny's Reefer Buddy;
Jack Swiler as Boy on Bus;
Andrew S. Lentz as Cursing Boy on Bus;
Jon Kaminski Jr. as Mike Fagle;
Ari Hoptman as Arlen Finkle;
Alan Mandell as Rabbi Marshak