New Coen Bros, A Serious Man

call w/ records club guy where he repeats santana's abraxis like 12 times was incredible

i think the coen brothers are making it about there father

Job was their dad?

embrace the mystery.

cause i heard they were basing the character off there dad, i also heard they basing it off the book of job, i could be wrong

Can't be both unless Job is their dad so yeah.

call w/ records club guy where he repeats santana's abraxis like 12 times was incredible

― johnny crunch, Saturday, 24 October 2009 14:28 (3 hours ago)

THIS^^^^^^^^^^^

i kinda dumb, and i know the ending is meant to be ambiguous, but what are we mean to infer about the kid and the 20 dollars? Why that meaningful look? Is he deciding not to give the money?

hes all lets see how this tornado plays out before i hand over the money - the general theme was disruption of staid lives - only unlike everyone else in the movie the kid sees possibility in the chaos - he does share their small minded outlook tho

can def see how some might get the impression that the coens dont like these people v much - tho the level of cultural insight and attention to detail is affection enough imo

OK I need a press screening for this, STAT. Very anxious to see this - British reviews are, so far, fantastic - but had a chat with a Jewish writer over here that really needed to go to shul re Midwest Jewry ie. he was surprised there *were* any. I relayed details of the conversation to my mom and it earned a big, fat WTF That said, British Jewish writer said he cursed his great-grandparents for getting off at Southampton instead of continuing on to Ellis Island.

I really really wanted to like this but just... didn't laugh. Yes, a bit too cruel, but that wasn't so much the problem for me - I just found it hammy and unfunny. I think there is something wrong with me, judging by the reaction of the rest of the (Washington DC) audience.

WaPo meets the Frozen Chosen

loved the ending of this

I quite enjoyed this. The first half seemed tenser and sadder to me. I think the tone lightened a bit in the second half, as the plot twists and tangents got a bit kookier, allowing the Coens to display their gifts of concision and visual narrative. Then when things finally seem to be lightening up, there comes the ominous twist of the ambiguous ending, seeming to foreshadow another downward lurch.

really really really did not dig this myself. everyone was just so damn miserable! didn't even warm up to the main character until the last quarter of the film. and the ending.. ugh. just too nihilistic for me, i guess

well, that speaks well of how your days go, cuz it seemed pretty lifelike to my eyes; mazel tov!

Miserable was probably not the right word - I meant almost every character felt irredeemably annoying and horrible. Makes sense for this movie, since they're all just different avenues to torture the main character, but it makes for a really aggravating film when it doesn't feel like it's really going anywhere, especially with that ending. I can't believe how much effort and time was wasted for that last joke with the last rabbi, for example. I kind of wish the movie ended after the opening scene.

believe me my days do not go well

But I don't think anyone else thinks they're torturing him, except maybe his wife's lover. Everyone has his reasons, etc.

btw I hafta go outta town and miss a party that the Shtetl Husband would be attending. :(

I have to think about why the usual Coen Bros misanthropy worked better in this context than any other. This is one of the best of the year.

if I am on the tenure track and suffer from tenure-process-related-paranoia, should I avoid this movie? Will it aggravate my symptoms?

hard to say

not unless yr husband leaves you for a serious man. :)

(given the Halloween photos, I'd say unlikely)

Do you take advantage of the new freedoms?

this was aight. the uncle with the suction tube was so disgusting

*sigh*

what r u sighing at

times done changed

the Richard Kind character enters like a walking cheapshot but he's rather heartbreaking, not "disgusting."

he's kind of both to be honest morbsy

every character is designed to be a huge problem for larry (do you see what happens, larry!?) but they all remained somehow warm and human, to me. trapped and blinkered and absolutely irritating, but not evil. this was way less misanthropic than burn after reading. very similar theological terrain to no country, too.

"a walking cheapshot" against who?

the infirm

the loud suctioning of fluid from his neck late at night was far from heartbreaking

"heartbreaking"

"scarequoting"

Some of the weakest sequences here are, predictably, pot-related

Pot mitzvah made me laugh.

And I literally forgot there was such a thing as Red Owl. I think I saw a few in Bloomington as they were dying off.

used to live a few blocks away from one that is now a kowalskis

my friend pointed out the use of some "stoner-cam" in this movie which i hadnt really remembered but sort of denigrates in my eyes, in retrospect

Loved this. I don't think I've ever seen a film that so effectively captured American synagogues - the detail was just incredible. And the stoned bar mitzvah was amazing - it really captures what a bar mitzvah FEELS like - you get shoved up onto stage, a metal pointer gets pushed into your hand, and a few minutes later you're uncomfortably parading past all of these old, wrinkled faces that you have no idea how to react to and a strange sense of being judged in a way you don't understand.

I also liked the almost zen parable feeling of the goy's teeth scene - though the person I was with took it as critical of rabbis, it actually reminded me of all the things I like about the Jewish tradition - the kind of shrugging, comic unknowingness of it.

I don't think it was full on "stoner cam," just an extremely shallow depth of field.

I heard some behind-the-scenes stories from the Sht3tl Husb4nd on Thursday night! Nothing scandalous, obv he was thrilled w/ the role.

Also, a friend tested for the Coens for the Richard Kind part!

I thought the megaracist next door was a little silly, and I had a few other minor quibbles, but otherwise I liked this quite a bit.

that neighbor was great tho. "is this guy bothering you?"

I realized after the film that the neighbor WASN'T actually a megaracist. He had a realistic degree of xenophobia, but the more horrific elements were just in Gopnik's mind (the jew-hunting dream, etc.). I think this ties in to the "perception" theme.

they really didnt get each other

Lousy limited release in the UK for this - only 27 screens nationwide by the look of it, despite five star reviews from nearly all quarters. Means a drive over to the other side of town for me, or a trip to the (rubbish) arthouse cinema. Broken Britain indeed.