New Coen Bros, A Serious Man

that peculiar kind of avuncular unhelpfulness, stories that go nowhere, etc

fwiw this is always why i wanted to be a jew---priests were weird and creepy, rabbis seemed like funny bros

Judaism: We're Funnier

Look at the parking lot, Larry. Just look at that parking lot.

god, the goy's teeth sequence is one of the best things they've ever done. loved loved loved that.

― iatee, Tuesday, February 16, 2010 6:27 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

^^^

Loved this movie. Way more laugh-out-loud funny than I'd been led to expect.

i need to watch this again. "do you take advantage of the new freedoms?"

Seen it four times, now, I think. Still awesome, and ever funnier.

The AV Club's recent article on Synecdoche, NY mentioned that it would make a great double bill w/ this, which is both true and freaks me out a big since those are my respective #1 flicks of the last two years.

SNY, being the work of a first-time director, has nowhere near the discipline and focus that ASM has.

The likes of "Look at the parking lot" is not a particularly Jewish concept; can fit in Zen, Christian mysticism, etc. It's good advice, just not offered in timely or effective fashion by Rabbi Scott.

The likes of "Look at the parking lot" is not a particularly Jewish concept; can fit in Zen, Christian mysticism, etc.

yeah well the mystic subsets of all the major religions are nearly identical when you get right down it

Raging Bull = Catholic version

WHAT'D I DO, WHAT'D I DO

i assumed the stuff at the beginning was to show that gopnik is cursed? (the couple were relations of gopnik's etc, though i could be reading in way too much.)

I didn't catch that they were related to Gopnik but maybe I just missed that

The likes of "Look at the parking lot" is not a particularly Jewish concept; can fit in Zen, Christian mysticism, etc.

yeah well the mystic subsets of all the major religions are nearly identical when you get right down it

― Wrinkles, I'll see you on the other side (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, February 18, 2010 10:37 AM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

this section of the movie parallels with the stoner lady next door, it's about "the sixties" -- the youngest rabbi, fresh out of school, probably has a lot of "the world is alive!!" type ish in his head! lutheran pastors of that age are the same way

i dont think they DID literally make some connection, but it was the best connection i could figure

I haven't formed any ideas about the relationship btwn the prologue and the main plot, other than wives sure can cause trouble huh?

Jews too.

sy is the dybbuk

shit happens

other than wives sure can cause trouble huh?

uh its the husband who brings home the dybbuk

altho I guess whether or not Fyvush actually is a dybbuk is open to interpretation

i was waiting during the whole middle third for some confirmation that the couple in the shtetl are larry's actual forbears, but, after a while, it's like, no, they're not going to give it to me that simply are they.

the shtetl sequence was actually lifted from an old f-troop

rarely rerun

It's from McHale's Navy.

u know he is credited at the end as "dybbuk?"

did f-troop routinely have joeks that were "lol, the indians are all really jews (cos that's who played the indians in the movies)"? cos i saw one episode once on nick at nite and that was basically the deal.

all i remember about f-troop is a lot of bug-eyed double-takes and neck-snapping cuts between scenes

amplified by Blaxing Saddles

xp

i saw the point of the prologue to be the deliberate ambiguity of whether the visitor was truly the rabbi or a dybbuk? the question is dramatically unresolved, but i think it ties into Larry's struggle over whether his trials are supernatural or mundane in their origin, faith vs. doubt, etc.

i mean, it's tempting to assume that the wife is wrong but the coens sometimes bring strange infernal visions to the screen (raising arizona, barton fink) so i don't think a possible dybbuk fits in there dramatically

ugh, I mean I think it *does* fit in there dramatically

I only asked my actor-acquaintance who played the Shtetl Husband if Fyvush Finkel was a dybbuk IRL

Whether or the wife is wrong about it being the dybbuk is sort of beside the point though as she's clearly not very polite to guests!

finally saw this--my favorite coen bros maybe ever

ppl who think this is as misanthropic as burn after reading or raising arizona must have seen a difft movie than me, they loved these characters

"they" being the coens.

great ending.

loved the scene w/ the kid and the old rabbi

yeah I didn't get the sense that this was mean-spirited the way RA and BAR are, this seemed very affectionate to me

Raising Arizona is not misanthropic! Moves me to tears every time.

max, "be a good boy."

I've probably seen the movie as many times as you have, and I always get the sense they are laughing AT those characters. its a comedy of errors populated by morons.

also lolz I have no idea what would move you to tears in RA, I know you ain't a sucker for babies/procreation/marriage

The ending totally does. Dude, real life and cinema do not signify in the same ways.

(I'm sure you're not completely amoral despite yr love for You Know What)

btw I've seen RA maybe 3x in 22 years, which is a lot for me.

despite yr love for You Know What

ah, the NEW love that dare not speak its name

I think we can all agree that BAR is pretty mean though, right guys?

i saw the point of the prologue to be the deliberate ambiguity of whether the visitor was truly the rabbi or a dybbuk? the question is dramatically unresolved, but i think it ties into Larry's struggle over whether his trials are supernatural or mundane in their origin, faith vs. doubt, etc.

― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut), Thursday, February 18, 2010 1:48 PM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ otm--echoes too w/ discussion of schroedingers cat, heisenberg. he talks w/ clives father, saying, did he leave the money, or didnt he, you cant have it both ways, dad says, "why not?"

so many scenes in this movie are punctuated with question--"who cares?" "why not?" "then what?"

u know he is credited at the end as "dybbuk?"

― mo collier mo problems (s1ocki), Thursday, February 18, 2010 12:28 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

like i said here... the question mark is in the actual credit, if i didnt make that cler

ahem clear