Posted on 09/12/2009 9:18:07 AM PDT by Saije
No doubt some filmgoers will be more than a little surprised by the overtly religious themes explored in A Serious Man, the latest film from brother-filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen*****
While they are Jewish and were reared in a religious home in suburban Minneapolis, the Coens have never dabbled in heavy-handed religious fare à la Cecil B. de Mille's epics, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ or, more unfortunately, John Travolta's tribute to his Scientology faith, Battlefield Earth.
A Serious Man is a black comedy set in the Coen brothers' real-life hometown of St. Louis Park, Minn., in 1967 and tells the story of Larry Gopnik, a modern-day Job...
Gopnik, played by newcomer Michael Stuhlbarg, is a physics professor at a local university. Gopnik's suburban serenity begins to devolve when his wife announces she's leaving him for Sy Abelman...a corpulent, pious bloviating fellow professor. A series of minor, if life-altering, calamities lead Gopnik to question the existence of God and the meaning of life – and of suffering*****
The average moviegoer may not realize the duo who gave us whimsical comedies such as The Hudsucker Proxy, The Ladykillers and Burn After Reading, are the same guys that made the bleakly noir The Man Who Wasn't There and the gangland period piece Miller's Crossing.
The cinematic styles, periods and themes of their films are so varied, some critics have wondered whether there is an overarching vision to the Coens' work. I would argue that it is the spirituality – the theological notions, the existential questions, and the religious ideas – of their films that, to paraphrase one of the oft-quoted lines from Lebowski (a flick so spiritually significant and influential that it literally has spawned its own religion, the 60,000-strong Church of the Latter-day Dude), really ties the room together.
(Excerpt) Read more at thestar.com ...
I loved Barton Fink.
I loved “O, Brother, Where Art Thou?”
Great soundtrack, too.
I think that if you're from Arizona, the movie is even funnier.
My brother in law is in that film
“Millers Crossing” has even beat out “O Brother, Where art Thou?” as my favorite Coen Bros. movie
Check out their first one, “Blood Simple” for a fun ride!
“Intolerable Cruelty” is funny beyond words... And it has Ms. Zeta Jones and that ain’t bad.
I like Coen Bros films...less offensive than most.
“Raising Arizona” is pure genus if you like comedy and what can be said about “Fargo” other than a very dark movie that still made you feel good at the end...and then there’s “Oh Brother”...
Yea great. Can’t talk to anyone outside the area without them laughing and asking me if I’m from Fargo.
I adore Cage.
He may be..um...”eccentric” but he’s a great talent.
He was perfect in “Knowing”.
[and naturally, I was wild about “Ghost Rider”]
His tour de force of “bizarre”, though, ~has~ to be “Vampire’s Kiss”.
I even loved “Lords of War” despite it not being a movie genre I’m really into.
I may be only person on earth who liked the Coen’s “No Country For Old Men”.
Wow...I didn’t know they did that flick.
That was one trippy movie.
“Raising Arizona” is one of the few movies I will watch every time it’s on.
He is just hysterically funny...[and hysterical] in that movie.
IMHO, “Knowing” is an underrated, outstanding movie. I detected some “overtly religious themes” in that one also.
Frances McDormand, Nick Hedaya, Charles Durning.
Kind of an early Fargo.
I thought No Country was good too, just saw it recently. Great performances by Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones didn’t seem to be phoning it in like he has in most of his recent movies.
Whoops. M Emmett Walsh, tha is.
I will show you the life of the mind!!!
It kept me nailed to my seat which is unusual.
Normally, I’m hitting pause, having a snack, FReeping, playing with the dogs...just generally not watching a movie straight through.
[by the time it was over, I had to race to the bathroom...don’t drink a whole bottle of spring water before watching “Knowing”]....:))
I thought it was “religious”, too.
[and yes, I cried at the end]
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