By Dan Helmy and John Maidman
| Life & Style
| Reviews
| November 05, 2009
|
|
This is a serious movie. In surreal dream sequences and the drug-addled misadventures of a bar mitzvah boy, audiences can escape the painful uncertainties that A Serious Man provokes. But to describe the Cohen brothers’ new film as a “black comedy” is to ignore how successfully it addresses the problem of suffering and the futility of leading a moral life. Watching A Serious Man feels like being part of a discussion. The Cohens do not provide resolution to the conflicts that arise in their narrative. Not only is this appropriate, given that the questions they pose have no easy answers, but it also allows audience members to feel as though they’re on equal terms with the artists they are appreciating. It is a rare movie-going experience not to be entertained. A Serious Man is not emotionally satisfying. Rather, it allows its viewers to become involved with the same philosophical issues that concern its creators. Don’t be misled, though; A Serious Man is funny. Really. We promise. It may be hard for some of you to believe that you can have a great time watching a man’s life fall to pieces. Schadenfreude comes to mind. Yet this word is insufficient to describe the outrageous humor that infuses A Serious Man. You don’t just enjoy how fate brings down a relentless beating on one unlucky guy. The more hilarious scenes in this film depict the ineptitude of those that try to comfort him. When Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) looks to the religious leaders of his community to explain his unhappiness, he is offered half-empty parking lots and strangely marked teeth as evidence of divine benevolence. The only wise man in town refuses to give him the time of day. His home life is in shambles. His son smokes pot, his daughter wants a nose job, and his neighbor is a douche. Ironically, the only guy who’s willing to offer Larry some consolation is also stealing his wife away. But when Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed) does wrap his meaty arms around our protagonist, you can’t help but laugh. Arrogance receives no quarter from the Cohen brothers. Serious men who have it all figured out bear the brunt of the film’s mockery. Larry’s tragedy is that he still wants to be one of them. A Serious Man reduces preoccupation with the effects of one’s actions in this life on the next to absolute absurdity. After all, what’s tax evasion next to a tornado? The forces that shape our world are bigger than our sins. They’re just bigger than us, in general. A Serious Man suggests that we all learn to deal with our inconsequentiality. Lastly, we should probably mention that this movie is super Jewish. From start to finish, this is a film about Jewish people doing Jewish things. Still, A Serious Man is for everyone, because the ideas that it presents are of universal interest. So please don’t feel alienated by the yarmulke-sporting, shiva-sitting characters that the Cohens have chosen to depict—they’re just like you.
|
|
|
|
|
Calendar: November 13 - 19, 2009
By TSL Staff | Life & Style Friday, November 13Friday Noon Concert Series12:15 - 1 p.m.Balch Auditorium, ScrippsSnowstock6:30 - 10 p.m.Rose Hills Theatre, PomonaKeep it Cute or Put it on Mute: A Neo Futurist Play7:30 p.m.Seaver Theater, PomonaSaturday, November 14Festival Del Cuatro6:30 - 9 p.m.Scripps Performing Arts CenterMillennium Consort Singers: Music Across Five Centuries8 - 10 p.m.Bridges Hall of MusicEbony and Ivory9 p.m. - 1 a.m.Gold Student ...
|
|
Lessons Learned: An Alum's View of the Job Hunt (part 2)
By Ike Potter PO 05 | Life & Style I have worked in a variety of corporate cultures—big firms, small startups, restaurants, Congressional offices, and IT support desks. There are some habits which I have found to be extremely valuable across the board (or, at least, habits that I appreciated in others and tried to develop myself). In an effort to create a “Guide to Being a Good Employee” ...
|
|
TV Review: Modern Family
By Rachel Hamburg | Life & Style Finally, a show with some wiggle room. “Modern Family,” a comedy about three generations of the Pritchett clan, tackles parenthood, childhood, and coupledom with humor, poignancy, and refreshingly little desperation. With charming interpretations of family dynamics and skillful use of stereotypes, “Modern Family” exudes the confidence of a subject matter than is endlessly fruitful. Filmed as a mockumentary, the show is ...
|
|
Technology Review: The Best New Gadgets on the Market
By Kaitlyn Casimo | Life & Style Curious about all the new gadgets on the market? Here is an overview of some of the best new toys out there.MusiciPod nano G5Stats: The new nano, released two weeks ago, retains all the great features of the previous models, but now comes with an FM radio, a bigger screen, and a video camera/voice recorder. Apple engineers are just ridiculous ...
|
|
Decked-Out Dorm Rooms
By Emily Brotman | Life & Style Trap doors. Videos projected onto walls and ceilings. Doors operated by remote control. It sounds like something out of a spy movie, but all of this can be found on the 5Cs, in the dorm rooms of the super-innovative. Let’s take a step back. Band posters, photographs, bulletin boards, printed artwork, and throw rugs are the staples of your ordinary, humble ...
|
|
What's Eating Your Empanadas? It Could Be An Argentine Ant
By Travis Kaya | Life & Style The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) is by itself unremarkable: it is barely three millimeters in length, a poor vector for disease and incapable of biting or stinging. It is, however, taking over the world. The largest known megacolony of Argentine ants stretches more than 6,000 kilometers—that’s 3,700 miles—along the Mediterranean coast of Europe. Claremont sits at the heart of the world’s ...
|
|
$10 & a Tank of Gas: The Norton Simon is a Haven
By Katie Cettie | Life & Style “Museum” is an awfully depressing word. Maybe it’s the way your lips seem to stick together as you say the first and last syllables or perhaps the fact that it resembles another unpleasant word—mausoleum—but the second I hear that word my brain instantly annihilates all associations with words like “mindless,” “fun,” and “a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon ...
|
|
A Pomona Student's View from Europe
By Ali Standish | Life & Style I have always loved being at Pomona. I love the weather, the classes, the parties. But most of all, I love the people. So when the day came to turn in my study abroad contract, I was still sitting at my desk, staring at the Cambridge forms in front of me while 5 p.m. crept closer and closer.Arriving a...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
