“Equally versed in theoretical physics and the mechanics of spiritual divorce, A Serious Man dazzles on so many levels that easy superlatives just don’t come. Bleaker than No Country for Old Men, funnier than The Big Lebowski or Hail, Caesar!, and ultimately more profound than Barton Fink, A Serious Man is everything that the Coens do well, done at their best. The intervening years have only seen it grow in estimation.
“Professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg, in one of the finest performances of the twenty-first century) is a man in a state of crisis. His wife wants a divorce so she can marry another, he’s on a collision course with his University’s tenure committee, his closeted savant brother has taken up what seems like a permanent residence on the family couch, the next door neighbors are encroaching on his property even as the new freedoms approach with arms outstretched, his stoner son seems dangerously unready for his bar mitzvah, and the Columbia record club won’t stop calling.
“Larry Gopnik is a man put upon, and answers are unforthcoming from both human and divine. The voice of the heavens belongs to Grace Slick, though, and there are mysteries we all must accept, both in this life and the life to come. An enduring masterpiece of theological and sociological unease.” ~ Jason Shawhan
Muriel’s Top 10 Films of 2009:
1. A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen) [157/23]
2. Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino) [149/21]
3. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson) [100/17]
4. Up (Pete Docter) [70/12]
5. Dogtooth (Yorgos Lanthimos) [50/8]
6. In the Loop (Armando Iannucci) [39/7]
7. The White Ribbon (Michael Haneke) [34/5]
8. Where the Wild Things Are (Spike Jonze) [26/4]
9 (tie). Moon (Duncan Jones) [25/4]
9 (tie). Mother (Bong Joon-ho) [25/4]
No comments:
Post a Comment