Review: A Serious Man

Review: A Serious Man

Rating: ***1/2

Nonna's Rating: $$$

Rotten Tomatoes: 87%

I've never met a Coen Brothers movie I didn't like. (Well, I could do without Intolerable Cruelty.) A Serious Man did not disappoint me. I watched it in downtown Highland Park with two priests, two almost priests, and a smattering of older Jewish men and women who, like us, had probably heard that the film was a retelling of the book of Job. It's sort of a retelling. But no God. No Satan. All manner of ill befall the main character, but the Job-ness of the story is not what's important. If anything, the movie is similar in theme to No Country For Old Men: "No one, absolutely no one, gets out alive" -- which is kind of Job-like as I think about it. In essence, what happens to all of us is strictly arbitrary. The film is replete with delightful performances by largely unfamiliar actors. A personal note: I found the last scene incredibly chilling because I have been in exactly the situation depicted -- which, of course, it would be criminal for me to reveal.

Nonna's Ratings:

$$$$ = Worth paying the Friday evening price
$$$= Worth paying the Matinee price
$$= Worth a rental
$ = Wait for cable
# = Skip it