‘A Serious Man’ Plays as Masterfully Fictionalized Autobiography For Joel, Ethan Coen

CHICAGO – “A Serious Man” isn’t the story of Joel and Ethan Coen’s lives. But you might not necessarily know it. While the brothers continue to turn their films into Hollywood gold, this 1967-set black comedy is among the more personal projects in their repertoire.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

That gamut is growing into a serious catalog with “Burn After Reading,” 2007 best-picture Oscar winner “No Country for Old Men,” “The Ladykillers,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “The Big Lebowski,” “Fargo” and “Raising Arizona” now under their yamakas over the course of two decades.

While the yamaka is designed to signify deference to god, “A Serious Man” pays homage to the Coens’ culture in an authentically Jewish way. But this is more than just one of the more Jewish films you’ve seen since “Schindler’s List”. “A Serious Man” is powered by a highly internal script and actors who externalize a series of very unfortunate events.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “A Serious Man” in our reviews section.

The film centers around one man in particular who you’ve likely never seen on screen before: Michael Stuhlbarg.

The Coen brothers, who are referred to in the industry as the “two-headed director” and are often known by actors to receive the same response to a question from either brother, took a chance on this cast. Tony Award nominee Michael Stuhlbarg plays Larry Gopnik.

Gopnik is a Midwestern professor who watches his life fall apart before his own eyes. His wife asks for a divorce, his inept brother won’t move out of the house, his kid steals his money for plastic surgery, blackmail is attempted by his student and an anonymous tipster attempts to defame his character and prevent him from being awarded tenure.

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “A Serious Man” review.

Michael Stuhlbarg (left) stars as Larry Gopnik and Fred Melamed (right) stars as Sy Ableman in Joel and Ethan Coen’s “A Serious Man”.
Photo credit: Wilson Webb

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “A Serious Man” review.