Let me say up front that most fans of the Coen brothers' early films might be disappointed if they're expecting "Fargo", "The Big Lebowski" or even "O Brother". Unlike those movies, here we don't have a lot of plot, comedy or action. The message of the film is very challenging, and it requires a lot of thought to figure out what they're saying.

I'd say this movie is for fans of the recent American films "Synecdoche NY", "Doubt", and the recent Japanese films "Departures", "Yureru" and of course the classics by Kurosawa like "Rashomon". What I'm saying is that this is a film that tackles philosophical questions of perception, faith, and in particular, uncertainty.

If you've had some physics, you're in for a real treat because much of the theme centers around Schrödinger's "Uncertainty Principle", briefly touched upon in the Coens' excellent 2001 film "The Man Who Wasn't There". Here they give us a more powerful dose. If you've never heard of this principle, don't worry, you can look it up on Wikipedia or you can accept my synopsis of it, which I'll warn you might be flawed because I ain't no physicist:

The Uncertainty Principle (or "Schrödinger's Cat") proves mathematically that certain events are unknowable. It proposes the idea of a cat that might be alive or dead, but we cannot know without looking inside the cage. At the same time, the minute we look inside the cage, the cat will be killed by a toxic gas. The bottom line: we can't know the answer. Ever.

From there, the movie explores how different people react when confronted with the unknown. Some form prejudices. Some fall back on faith. Some become faithLESS. And some just don't care.

This is a beautifully crafted film that shows us the nature of human beings in that respect. No, there's not really a story. But it does even better than that: it challenges our minds to see elements of our own lives within the life of this ordinary schmuck. I am truly amazed at the Coens' accomplishment, and I hope they continue in this direction in the future, though I'm sure it may hurt their mainstream appeal.

If you see this film & like it, I think you'll really enjoy the other films I've listed as well as the Hungarian masterpiece "Werckmeister Harmonies", anything by Wim Wenders ("The End of Violence" touches on the same Uncertainty Principle) and Orson Welles' "The Trial".

The Coen Brothers give to its frazzled protagonist Larry Gopnick a line a few times during the course of A Serious Man, "I didn't do anything!" that is more than just an homage to Franz Kafka - it's ripping him off basically. This is not to say Larry is quite in the same predicament of Joseph K. Then again, I wonder if Larry would prefer no explanation to the if-it-wasn't-for-bad-luck-I-would-have-no-luck status over the kinds he gets to his troubles. He has a divorce pending and his wife leaving with Sy Ableman (seriously, Sy Ableman!),he has a South Korean student who may be simultaneously bribing him and suing him for defamation, he has a brother who has a cyst/no job/gambling troubles, two kids who more or less are just typically dysfunctional teens (the boy on his way to be Bar Mitzvah and smoking enough dope to acknowledge more than once that it's 1967),and his sexual repression is practically taunted by the foxy Jewish woman next door who sunbathes nude. And what does God have to say about this? Oh, don't get him started on trips to the Rabbi - frankly, he'd have better luck with Anton Chigurh.

A Serious Man is a movie to take seriously as art, but at the same time the Coens aren't above pulling out their usual all-stops to make this a hilariously weird and awkward movie. Perhaps a better way to compare is that it's like if Curb Your Enthusiasm starred an average shmo who doesn't have quite the sense of humor of Larry David (and, perhaps, is even cursed by his bloodline via the opening scene in the movie... or maybe not, I'll get to that in a moment),and who keeps getting s*** on from all directions (not coincidentally perhaps Richard Kind appears in both show and movie). It's such a funny movie that I have to think back to Big Lebowski and O'Brother Where Art Thou to remember when I laughed so hard. Maybe its the predilection for Jewish jokes that sting so, or maybe its the originality with the storytelling. As far as a black-as-Jewish-death comedy, it works completely.

As for being a masterpiece of a film... I'm still not completely sure. Sometimes the Coens' movies are instant classics (No Country for Old Men, Blood Simple),and others take a little while to grow on a viewer (i.e. Miller's Crossing, even Big Lebowski was a grower and not a shower for me). A Serious Man may fall in the latter category; it's such a personal film, maybe more than anyone done before if only for the time and place and particulars of the characters in a Jewish-suburb of Minnesota, and its such an oddity in their catalog of work. Watching Larry on this existential odyssey of "WTF" nears Bergman proportions - there's even a scene where a character's death affects a woman in much the same way as the father Ekdahl's death in Fanny & Alexander - where religion is tested to the fullest and most harrowing of emotional schemes. Where is God when Larry needs him? Everywhere? Nowhere? Screw Larry, he didn't pay his (son's) Columbia Records account!

But for all that succeeds in A Serious Man, such as a completely masterful sequence (a contender for my single favorite sequence of any movie this year) where a Rabbi describes a harrowing and pointless and uproarious story of a dentist and a Goy's teeth, or when Larry's son is stoned out of his mind when reading the Torah at his Bar Mitzvah (a first in cinema history, combining marijuana, Roger Deakins' use of a lens-baby, and Hebrew),and its creative characterizations and shocking nightmare scenes, it's an unsettling film, and not always in the best ways. It's a film that, as one could argue in their past films, is at war with if not the audience directly then with audience expectations. We might expect A Serious Man to just be about this man's downward spiral in his life, but what then to make of that (cool) opening scene all in Yiddish and (admitted by Joel Coen) to not really have a whole lot to do directly with the rest of the movie, or, for that matter, the end of the movie which just... ends.

As far as 'f***-you's' to audiences go, it certainly is funny and startling in comparison with No Country for Old Men (almost like the Coens are saying 'yeah, knock this one this time, we *dare* you!),and if I get an f-you from filmmakers I'm glad it comes from them. But... you will either need more than a viewing for it to sink in, or you'll curse the day you decided to walk in the theater or rent it. Not much of a middle ground. Then again, I wouldn't want it any other way in this case. And hey, it's got Jefferson Airplane quoted by a Yoda-Rabbi, that scores points right there! 9.5/10

I am giving this movie an 8 because it is so well made, however, it is also a rather unpleasant film at times and will probably leave many quite cold. After all, if you need to have a film with certainty, a clear ending or a story that is formulaic, this film is NOT for you.

In fact, there are some in particular who would enjoy the film most. Jews or Christians familiar with the story of Job would definitely have a huge advantage. Likewise, someone who likes films that are NOT Hollywood-like will also like the film. You don't exactly have to love the films Ingmar Bergman...but it sure would help!

The film is about the life of a rather bland but decent Jewish man, Larry, who is living in the late 1960s. One by one, things in his life begin to fall apart--his wife is leaving him, his children are alienated, he is worried about losing his job, etc. and for the first time, Larry has no answers and begins to look for some explanation about life. However, throughout the film, he keeps finding that there are NO ANSWERS!! Again and again, Larry tries, in vain, to get a handle on his life...and then abruptly it all ends...much like real life.

The film is expertly crafted and acted. It's all about the meaningless of life or at least the fact that while you are living you cannot make sense of it. Not something many would like to think about, but an interesting religious and philosophical film--and makes you ask yourself a lot of questions.

By the way, if you aren't familiar with Judaism or Yiddish, try watching the special feature "Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys"--a pop-up video-like short which explains what words throughout the film actually mean to a Gentile.