Serious Men, Not Serious Movie Reviews

Erika 2022-04-21 09:01:55

Intuitive judgment with endowment comes from a deep understanding of life, which is the source of wisdom.
In contrast, the tendency to rational judgment, serious restraint and prudence, this is the source of wisdom.
Boys and girls of the same age, girls are usually more mature thinking, Freud's theory is that girls have more insecurities than boys, which gives birth to female intelligence.

Are wisdom and intelligence the same thing?

After watching the absurd film "Serious Men" over the weekend, and the laughing translation of "Very Silly Man Bizarrely Divorced",
it is obvious that this is a serious middle-aged man filmed by a serious male director. A serious film about serious topics in life.

After watching this movie, I became serious and seriously thought about a serious problem:

Larry, a physics professor at the University of Reason and Sensibility, filled 9 blackboards with equations under the surprised eyes of students while spitting. Uncertain scientific arguments, but he can't cope with the uncertainty of everyday life.

Well-dressed Larry can talk quantum mechanics and tell you that the uncertainty after atomic decay causes Schrödinger's cat to die or live, but he still He handed over his home to his wife and his wife's lover to build a love nest together, and was coaxed to live in an express hotel like Home (Roger transliteration)

North Korean students used money to buy points, son smoked marijuana, daughter had nose job, wife had an affair , A neurotic geek who has no ability to live violates the law, suffers a serious illness in his routine physical examination, and a tornado that rises from the ground unexpectedly. . . . Where to go,

a smart professor who is short-suffered, a brain is muddled, how does life come to this? He defended: I HAVE DONE NOTHING. I didn't do anything?

Smart professors, unwise
men, serious men, funny clowns, real
life, absurd tragedy

The predicament of the man, who did nothing wrong on the surface, was brutally raped by life.


Western philosophy advocates rational scientific rigor, while the East emphasizes perceptual moderation and inaction. Easterners see that Westerners are really tiring and take things seriously. For example, Professor Larry, if he follows the advice of the father of a North Korean student, he can achieve a win-win situation with money. Why bother with the bottom line of morality? Asian Dad said: If you accuse my son of bribing you, then we will never admit to it (the bribe envelope is not signed), and if you give the money to you, we will both agree to be at peace with each other. This episode is really stunning. On the one hand, it is the big PK of the Eastern and Western ideological camps, and on the other hand, the physics professor who talks about the uncertainty of the uncertain Schrödinger cat is bribed by the uncertainty.




Going back to rationality and sensibility,

generally speaking,
Chinese people do things by being human beings, and everything is sympathetic. Westerners are also doing things, and their handling is objective, Chinese people are confused, Westerners confuse

men with reason and decisiveness, women are emotionally implicated, men are rigid, and women are stupid.

Smart people are easily misunderstood by basic things.


Rationality tells me that life is nothing, and it is empty in the same way.
Sensibility tells me to live in the moment, there is no need to be more serious and

dialectical, it is necessary to balance

and reject seriousness, and to stay away from vulgarity.

View more about A Serious Man reviews

Extended Reading
  • Leanna 2022-03-27 09:01:05

    When Sy hugged Larry, he remembered a line in FC: men is what we are...

  • Dolores 2021-11-28 08:01:18

    It can be a second time. Everyone is just the Schrödinger cat.

A Serious Man quotes

  • Larry Gopnik: She seems to be asking an awful lot. But then, I don't know. Somebody has to pay for Sy's funeral.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Uh-huh.

    Larry Gopnik: His own estate is in probate, but why does it have to be me? Or is it wrong to complain? Judy says it is. But I'm so strapped for cash right now, carrying the mortgage, and paying for the Jolly Roger, and I wrecked the car, and Danny's Bar Mitzvah coming up, I...

    Rabbi Nachtner: Something like this... there's never a good time.

    Larry Gopnik: I don't know where it all leaves me, Sy's death. Obviously it's not gonna go back like it was.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Mm. Would you even want that, Larry?

    Larry Gopnik: No, I- well, yeah... sometimes... or... I don't know; I guess the honest answer is "I don't know". What was my life before? Not what I thought it was. What does it all mean? What is Hashem trying to tell me, making me pay for Sy Ableman's funeral?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Mm.

    Larry Gopnik: And did I tell you I had a car accident the same time Sy had his? The same instant, for all I know. I mean, is Hashem telling me that Sy Ableman is me? Or that we are all one, or something?

    Rabbi Nachtner: How does God speak to us? A good question.

  • Rabbi Nachtner: You know Lee Sussman.

    Larry Gopnik: Doctor Sussman? I think I - yeah.

    Rabbi Nachtner: Did he ever tell you about the goy's teeth?

    Larry Gopnik: No... I- What goy?

    Rabbi Nachtner: So... Lee is at work one day; you know he has the orthodontic practice there at Great Bear. He's making a plaster mold - it's for corrective bridge work - in the mouth of one of his patients, Russell Kraus. The mold dries and Lee is examining it one day before fabricating an appliance. He notices something unusual. There appears to be something engraved on the inside of the patient's lower incisors. He vav shin yud ayin nun yud. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me, save me". This in a goy's mouth, Larry. He calls the goy back on the pretense of needing additional measurements for the appliance. "How are you? Noticed any other problems with your teeth?" No. There it is. "Hwshy 'ny". "Help me". Son of a gun. Sussman goes home. Can Sussman eat? Sussman can't eat. Can Sussman sleep? Sussman can't sleep. Sussman looks at the molds of his other patients, goy and Jew alike, seeking other messages. He finds none. He looks in his own mouth. Nothing. He looks in his wife's mouth. Nothing. But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world's greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah. He knows that every Hebrew letter has its numeric equivalent. 8-4-5-4-4-7-3. Seven digits... a phone number, maybe? "Hello? Do you know a goy named Kraus, Russell Kraus?" Who? "Where have I called? The Red Owl in Bloomington. Thanks so much." He goes. It's a Red Owl. Groceries; what have you. Sussman goes home. What does it mean? He has to find out if he is ever to sleep again. He goes to see... the Rabbi Nachtner. He comes in, he sits right where you're sitting right now. "What does it mean, Rabbi? Is it a sign from Hashem, 'Help me'? I, Sussman, should be doing something to help this goy? Doing what? The teeth don't say. Or maybe I'm supposed to help people generally, lead a more righteous life? Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? Or is there even a question? Tell me, Rabbi, what can such a sign mean?"

    [pause as the Rabbi drinks his tea]

    Larry Gopnik: So what did you tell him?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Sussman?

    Larry Gopnik: Yes!

    Rabbi Nachtner: Is it... relevant?

    Larry Gopnik: Well, isn't that why you're telling me?

    Rabbi Nachtner: Okay. Nachtner says, look. The teeth, we don't know. A sign from Hashem? Don't know. Helping others... couldn't hurt.

    Larry Gopnik: No! No, but... who put it there? Was it for him, Sussman, or for whoever found it, or for just, for, for...

    Rabbi Nachtner: We can't know everything.

    Larry Gopnik: It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tell me the story?

    Rabbi Nachtner: [chuckling] First I should tell you, then I shouldn't.

    Larry Gopnik: What happened to Sussman?

    Rabbi Nachtner: What would happen? Not much. He went back to work. For a while he checked every patient's teeth for new messages. He didn't find any. In time, he found he'd stopped checking. He returned to life. These questions that are bothering you, Larry - maybe they're like a toothache. We feel them for a while, then they go away.

    Larry Gopnik: I don't want it to just go away! I want an answer!

    Rabbi Nachtner: Sure! We all want the answer! But Hashem doesn't owe us the answer, Larry. Hashem doesn't owe us anything. The obligation runs the other way.

    Larry Gopnik: Why does he make us feel the questions if he's not gonna give us any answers?

    Rabbi Nachtner: He hasn't told me.

    [Larry puts his face in his hands in despair]

    Larry Gopnik: And... what happened to the goy?

    Rabbi Nachtner: The goy? Who cares?