about the claustrophobia of growing up in a particular suburb and community where everything you do is under the microscope of your god and the neighbours, who may or may not have it in for you.
The neighbors, well... maybe there's something to be afraid of there. I freaked out myself when the people moved in upstairs who hung American flags in the front windows and drive a big-ass truck. Anyway, I relate very much to Larry's fears on that front. This is why I don't live in Texas anymore.
But I don't think Larry feels like he's under the microscope of God. He's too rational by nature to ever assume that he's being punished by God. But that's also his problem -- he also demands rationality from the world, and the world doesn't have gracious amounts of that to spare.
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 19:48 (fourteen years ago) link
Which explains the opening scene, too.
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 19:59 (fourteen years ago) link
Kind of.
Most every review I've read, positive or otherwise, has seen all three rabbis and all of their advices as being merely comic. What's comic is Larry's frustration, not the advice. All of the rabbis are saying something essential about our place in the world. The comedy (and tragedy) of it is that Larry is not the kind of person who will ever hear it.
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
A Serious Man is crowded with fat Jews, aggressive Jews, passive-aggressive Jews, traitor Jews, loser Jews, shyster-Jews, emo-Jews, Jews who slurp their chicken soup
Which one of these is Mrs Samsky?
― The Man With the Magic Eardrums (Billy Dods), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:43 (fourteen years ago) link
hot stoner jews
― emotional radiohead whatever (Jordan), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
MILF JEW
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:48 (fourteen years ago) link
milf jew > bear jew
― emotional radiohead whatever (Jordan), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:49 (fourteen years ago) link
as a gentile i must agree
― goole, Friday, 16 April 2010 20:52 (fourteen years ago) link
hmmm is this a website yet
― I won't vote for you unless you acknowledge my magic pony (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:53 (fourteen years ago) link
JILF?
― GREAT JOB Mushroom head (gbx), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:55 (fourteen years ago) link
i don't think mrs samsky had kids so technically that would make her a JOUGAR
― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut), Friday, 16 April 2010 20:59 (fourteen years ago) link
rofl
― goole, Friday, 16 April 2010 20:59 (fourteen years ago) link
coen jougar mellowcamp
― goole, Friday, 16 April 2010 21:00 (fourteen years ago) link
JOUGAR ELIMINATOR
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:04 (fourteen years ago) link
I really enjoyed this. One of the Coen Bros. better films I think.
Not really seeing this as anti-semitic at all. Coens just continuing their tradition of populating their films with cartoon characters. And the only prominent gentiles in the movie are the dim, aggressive redneck neighbors, so w/e.
― circa1916, Friday, 16 April 2010 21:05 (fourteen years ago) link
...and the Asians.
― Roomful of Moogs (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:07 (fourteen years ago) link
do east asians count as gentiles? i think they're beyond that biblical scope tbh.
― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:09 (fourteen years ago) link
Chosen moms choose JILF.
― who's always getting head from the commissioner (Eric H.), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
So reductive! She has freedoms that are new.
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Also, a John Boehner tan.
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:13 (fourteen years ago) link
lol
― Jack Human (kenan), Friday, 16 April 2010 21:14 (fourteen years ago) link
asians are the jews of asia
― max, Friday, 16 April 2010 23:53 (fourteen years ago) link
all jews are buddhists now
― velko, Friday, 16 April 2010 23:57 (fourteen years ago) link
jewddhists
― lesley gorguts (latebloomer), Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:21 (fourteen years ago) link
40 is kind of young for a cougar (or jougar), innit?
― Beer me a Lagavulin (KMS), Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:33 (fourteen years ago) link
It's all about the size of the gap, innit?
― Jack Human (kenan), Saturday, 17 April 2010 00:47 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh come on, ppl. Not even a groan?
― Jack Human (kenan), Saturday, 17 April 2010 01:26 (fourteen years ago) link
― elmo leonard (elmo argonaut)
Seriously, how can you not call it JEWGAR?
― van smack, Saturday, 17 April 2010 02:21 (fourteen years ago) link
I closed my laptop for a bit to watch Fringe on the DVR, but I lolled after the fact.
― Beer me a Lagavulin (KMS), Saturday, 17 April 2010 03:30 (fourteen years ago) link
Did I imagine Arthur specifically bemoaning a 'curse' as the source of all their trouble during the pool/breakdown scene? It's the only thing I could link back to the prologue.
Did not love the ambiguous ending, but definitely made sense tying in with 'no questions answered' theme of the movie, rabbi's advice, schroedinger, etc.
enjoyed very much, on the whole. would echo the comment that a better workign knowledge of jewish culture would maybe have given me a bit more to take from it.
the movie struck me as a little self-loathing jew, tbh, but it was really the wife/daughter that came out of the whole thing stinking- at least the son got a little bit of fleshing out from being just another pain-in-the-ass for Larry to deal with every day.
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Sunday, 9 May 2010 17:15 (fourteen years ago) link
I found the portrayal of Jews a little overly negative too, although I found the rabbis rather likable and almost zen-like -- which makes me wonder if I either got something some other people missed or just misread it out of wishful thinking (I didn't want to believe that the Coens would go for a trite cheapshot at the 'emptiness of religion').
At the same time, looking for antisemitic stereotypes is kind of an infinite feedback loop and for that reason a game I like to avoid where possible. I had a slight problem with the portrayal of a few characters because they seemed inhuman (the wife), but I think the film may be asking us to understand this as partly a product of the main character's perception.
― hills like white people (Hurting 2), Sunday, 9 May 2010 20:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh I guess I sort of said some of those things upthread.
― hills like white people (Hurting 2), Sunday, 9 May 2010 20:45 (fourteen years ago) link
i liked the rabbis too!
― max, Sunday, 9 May 2010 21:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Also I feel like there has to be some kind of separation between kinds of stereotypes - particularly when they're being used in a knowing way by someone who grew up in a community as opposed to someone from outside. I mean if you grew up in a Synagogue you probably knew a few nebbishy Jews, and there is such a thing as a familiar cultural type. There's a difference between having that in a film about a Jewish community and placing a lone caricature of a nebbishy Jew for comic relief in a film otherwise devoid of Jewish characters. Like there's a difference between a Jewish stereotype as a token of a type of Jew and a Jewish stereotype as a token of The Jews.
― hills like white people (Hurting 2), Sunday, 9 May 2010 21:38 (fourteen years ago) link
I liked the first half of this but it wore on me by the end. I did like the rabbi scenes, though. "The story of the goy's teeth" was probably the best part.
― dmr, Sunday, 9 May 2010 21:53 (fourteen years ago) link
http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_ky2g5scLwk1qa9bmvo1_1280.png?AWSAccessKeyId=0RYTHV9YYQ4W5Q3HQMG2&Expires=1273528616&Signature=c62ktsUwAhj8fAr%2FivoG%2FC9toLs%3D
― max, Sunday, 9 May 2010 21:57 (fourteen years ago) link
a serious max
― sir gaga (s1ocki), Monday, 10 May 2010 01:53 (fourteen years ago) link
i keep meaning to rent this, but every time i'm in the video store, something holds me back. i guess in all honesty i don't like any of the coen brothers' films very much, and i'm a little wary of this one, more out of instinct than thoughtful consideration. should i bother?
― by another name (amateurist), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:10 (fourteen years ago) link
i'd say no, given that you don't like any of their others very much, but then i think that maybe makes you a little bit crazy anyway.
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:14 (fourteen years ago) link
i'm a bit insulted. i can't formulate a general objection to them, and i grow tired of those who insist on doing so. but i just don't have particularly warm feelings about anything i've seen by them, and i have pretty negative feelings about some of their films, like 'man who wasn't there.' none of their films sticks in my mind as an experience i want to linger over or return to.
― by another name (amateurist), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:32 (fourteen years ago) link
are you the same darragh mac who writes for senses of cinema?
nope.
the 'ur a little bit mad' was me just being confused btw, sorry if it came over a little strong.
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:33 (fourteen years ago) link
amateurist i share your discontent w/ most of the coens' stuff but 'srs man' is every bit as good as this thread would suggest
― nakhchivan, Monday, 10 May 2010 10:54 (fourteen years ago) link
amateurist i share your discontent w/ most of the coens' stuff
YOU'RE BOTH CRAZY
ok i'll stop
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Monday, 10 May 2010 10:56 (fourteen years ago) link
amateurist fwiw i really loved this one and hated the man who wasn't there so... i say go for it
― sir gaga (s1ocki), Monday, 10 May 2010 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
― by another name (amateurist), Monday, May 10, 2010 11:32 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark
i'd say 1) this is fairly atypical, 2) i don't like "man who wasn't there" (or any of their films from the 2000s really) but liked this, 3) imo this and "lebowski" are their best films. idk you might not like it, but im sure you'll watch much worse films in any given year.
― Greatest contributor: (history mayne), Monday, 10 May 2010 12:49 (fourteen years ago) link
the man who wasn't there is probably one of their worst movies. they def. have stinkers in their catalog.
this movie, tho, is amazing
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 10 May 2010 15:42 (fourteen years ago) link
so, what's everyone's problem with the man who wasn't there? curious because I've seen it but honestly don't remember much about it.
my reaction at the time was, "yeah, it was alright."
― original bgm, Monday, 10 May 2010 16:04 (fourteen years ago) link
terrible cast, pointless plot, half-assed screenplay, an homage that adds nothing to its sources, empty
― the sound of a norwegian guy being wrong (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 10 May 2010 16:05 (fourteen years ago) link