08-07-2009 Weirdest Robkast The new Coen brothers movie "A Serious Man",
which stars basically all new actors and actresses, and is a complete
180 degree turn from their last flick with its star-studded cast(Burn After Reading), is the story of an ordinary
man's search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on
the radio and F-Troop is on TV.
It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik played by newcomer Michael
Stuhlbarg, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has
just been informed by his wife Judith played by Sari Lennick that she is
leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous
colleagues, Sy Ableman played by Fred Melamed, who seems to her a more
substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry's unemployable
brother Arthur played by Richard Kind(The Wild) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny played by Aaron Wolf is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school,
and his daughter Sarah played by Jessica McManus is filching money from his
wallet in order to save up for a nose job.
While his wife and Sy
Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother
becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer
is trying to sabotage Larry's chances for tenure at the university.
Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing
grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation.
Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude.
Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different
rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a
righteous person, “a mensch“,and a serious man?
