'A Serious Man'

'A Serious Man' (R) ***1/2

Writers, Producers and and Directors: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Sari Lennick, Fred Melamed, Adam Arkin, George Wyner, Amy Landecker

Oh what a wonderful and glorious career and slate of films the Coens have given us! They have their critics but to me all of their movies are at least interesting and about something. Critics call them manipulative and too studied but I think they are fantastic storytellers. My favorite Coen movies are "Blood Simple", "Raising Arizona" and "Fargo" but each of their movies are fun and entertaining. You can add "A Serious Man" to their great list of accomplishments. It tells a great story, has characters we are fascinated with and has actors we haven't seen before. It starts with a fantastic and believable performance by Tony Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg who can add Academy Award nomination soon to his resume. His character goes through a lot of pain and trials in this movie and they are all very funny. This is more of a comedy in the "After Hours", "Barton Fink", "The Big Lebowski" tradition. This is a black comedy where the laughs come out of the situations and Stuhlbarg responds to them flawlessly. He has great support by a great cast of some actors you recognize and some you don't. Fred Melamed also gives an equally great performance as a man who thinks before he speaks and speaks very slowly and eloquently even when he is supposed to be the bad guy who is supposed to be against you. His performance may also garner Oscar talk. This movie is not for all tastes but a lot of the Coen Brothers movies are like that. They take their time telling their story and there are no camera tricks or false notes. There is a brilliant and captivating opening fable that would make a great short film on it's own and then the main story kicks in. So they have you hooked right at the start and the movie then starts to build it's wonderful story. The movie also has a brilliant and perfect ending to what has transpired before. It also has classic comedy scenes and great dialogue. Some have complained that this movie is too Jewish for their tastes and I think that is absurd. Okay so it is very Jewish but I thought what was wonderful about movies is that we go to watch other cultures and ethnicity's and their stories. If you are close minded and are not open to that then don't go see the movie. That is like saying you didn't like "Witness" because it was too Amish. The Coen Brothers have added another winner to their resume and " A Serious Man" tells a very compelling, amusing and entertaining story.