very dark but not humorous

Ryleigh 2022-04-22 07:01:17

I looked at the list of Coen Brothers' works, I missed no country for old men three years ago, and then I watched burn after reading, a serious man is just the second one I've watched.

Critics say their work is mostly violent, involving many absurd coincidences and endings, even if the reasons for what happened are logical or definite. Obviously, before watching a serious man, I was very unfamiliar with their work style, which caused me to feel extremely uncomfortable with the whole movie both mentally and visually. When the audience burst into laughter one after another throughout the cinema, I felt that I was on the verge of suffocation, and I had the urge to leave my seat and escape the darkness several times.

For a superficial me, just superficially interpreting the film as an interpretation of a midlife crisis has already caused a huge emotional trauma to my self, not to mention a deep understanding of the meaning of the so-called uncertainty of life. When the end-credits shot came to a screeching halt when the tornado approached the town streets from afar, most of the audience looked in disbelief. Well, life is full of uncertainties, such as a tornado that may strike at any time, making an orderly life all over the place. A person who takes life seriously does not necessarily accept the occasional jokes in life, and when it cannot be explained from the perspective of conventional scientific derivation, turning to religion does not seem to get more help, so everything goes back to the beginning of the film "receive with simplicity everything that happens to you”. This is the answer given by the Coen brothers.

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Extended Reading
  • Eryn 2022-03-26 09:01:05

    The Coen Brothers' modern version of Job has a very personal feel, and its existentialism is embodied in a modern individual's questioning of metaphysical forces. The deeds of God cannot be fathomed, and the interpretations of the rabbis are more mysterious than each other. A serious and mathematically rational way of life is no longer possible, but the evil irony of Cohen is that they let God's wrath actually fall on the world and the protagonist in the end. There is a subtle American theme in the film. In the United States in the 1960s, sin meant a financial debt relationship, and the debt was always repaid, which is clearly explained by the parallel plot line of the protagonist's son. In the end, the end of the world has come to the town with the stars and stripes rolled up - Americans probably owe too much money.

  • Kole 2021-11-28 08:01:18

    It's simply @薛定谔's dish.

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?