A Serious Man
(2009)
The Coens in more
interior mode (a la Barton Fink and The Man Who Wasn't There). An excellent
film, from the darkly funny folktale that takes up the first 10 minutes to an
ending that recalls another of their recent films by not tying everything up
neatly.
Unlike No Country For Old Men, there's little
in the way of plot; the premise appears loosely to be the Book of Job, but
takes in meditations on action and inaction, faith and reason, quantum
mechanics and the Mentaculus!
Great performances all round, but Fred Melamed as Sy Ableman probably wins the
instant classic Coen character award.
*****