Sorry I neglected you all yesterday. We were up in New Hampshire, where the kids skied with their 80-something grandparents, while their parents (one lazy, one limping) stayed back at the house and watched "A Serious Man," the latest movie from the Coen brothers. I loved this movie, although I certainly couldn't say I enjoyed it—it's so perplexing, and so full of wince-worthy moments, and so irredeemably bleak (as are pretty much all of the Coens' movies) that it's about as far from a feel-good movie as you can get. Which isn't to say that there weren't any laughs, because there were plenty.
It tells the story of Larry Gopnick, a mild-mannered 1969-ish suburban Jew with a wife and two kids. He's a physics professor whose world is about to come crashing down around him from every direction. All he really wants to know is WHY? He seeks counsel from various rabbis, but none can give him a satisfactory answer.
There was plenty of terrific acting in this movie, but no actors you'd really recognize, except possibly Richard Kind (he used to play the OB-GYN friend on "Mad About You") and Adam Arkin, who looks like a poor man's George Clooney these days. I don't watch TV anymore, so I haven't seen him since I first met him on "Northern Exposure," where he played, brilliantly, a cantankerous genius chef.
This was perhaps the "most Jewishy" movie I've ever seen, and I wonder whether a non-Jew would even get most of it. Any goyim out there see it? What did you think?
OMG, I loved Northern Exposure. I'm remembering Adam Arkin's character very fondly. And his wife (or lady-mate) was EVE! It was filmed not far from where I live; I've actually been to the Brick Tavern!
Posted by: Tonya | February 22, 2010 at 01:30 AM
I am sure there are references I missed because I am definitely goyim through and through but I did really like "A Serious Man." I probably startled the entire theatre with my laughter when the rabbi started quoting Jefferson Starship to the son after his bar mitzvah ceremony. Bleak as hell yeah but a great movie nonetheless.
Posted by: Stephanie | February 22, 2010 at 01:59 PM