A Serious Man (2009)

To paraphrase the rye bread ad campaign, you don't have to be Jewish to love A Serious Man. Jack isn't and we both loved it. And if you aren't, and/or you need a glossary of Yiddish/Jewish terms, I found one without spoilers. This is Joel and Ethan Coen's most Jewish movie so far (next they are expected to make The Yiddish Policeman's Union based on the novel by the talented Michael Chabon (Wonder Boys, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, and others)). I've seen all the features co-directed and co-written by the Coen brothers, and this is my new favorite despite their winning the Oscar for No Country for Old Men (2007). Raising Arizona (1987) and Fargo (1996) are right up there, and each time I see clips from The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) on TV I like it better (not that I didn't like all the others, because I did!). 

This is a Job-like story, set in 1967, of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg, Tony nominee for The Pillowman on Broadway in 2005), a nerdy professor in Minneapolis, whose son Danny (newcomer Aaron Wolff) is preparing for his bar mitzvah. In fact, none of the stars of this movie is a big name, as they were in Burn After Reading (which, by the way, grew on me with time), but instead character actors whose faces are familiar, such as Richard Kind (Spin City, Curb Your Enthusiasm, small parts in lots of things), Fred Melamed (small parts, some uncredited, in a number of Woody Allen movies), Fyvush Finkel (Picket Fences, Boston Public; his part is the bearded man in the prologue), George Wyner (Hill Street Blues and lots more), Adam Arkin (also Picket Fences, as well as Northern Exposure, Chicago Hope, West Wing, and others; son of Alan), and newcomers such as Wolff and Sari Lennick (some L.A. theatre work) who plays Larry's wife. 

Joel Coen turned 13 in 1967 in Minneapolis, so clearly the Coens know a little something about bar mitzvahs then and there. Imdb has some interesting spoiler-free trivia about Joel Coen, and some spoiler-laden trivia about this movie that you might enjoy. The haunting score by prolific composer Carter Burwell (all the Coen movies and many more, including the excellent Kinsey (2004), Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), In Bruges (2008), and Where the Wild Things Are) is well mixed with four Jefferson Airplane tracks from the 1967 album Surrealistic Pillow, Jimi Hendrix's "Machine Gun," The Art of Lovin's "Good Times," and a song by Russian opera singer Sidor Belarsky. The production design and sets are outstanding and worthy of nominations. I could go on about this but my time is limited, as we saw it on a road trip to Philadelphia, are now in New York, and it's about time to leave the hotel.

Jack & I were so impressed by the trailer that I gave it its own post. Seeing it will enhance your movie-going experience. And, as is my practice on babetteflix, I alert you to a small but amusing bonus at the very end of the credits. Don't leave early! This is a must-see movie. Its occasional slow pace is perfectly calculated for comic effect. Anyone with the patience for the pace is old enough to enjoy it.