 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
71.116.236.66
Coen brothers new movie is a sort of reminiscence of childhood. Being the Coen brothers, this is combined with a some existential questioning and quite a bit of darkness.
Primarily, this is a pitch perfect recreation of a time and place. This is American Jewish suburban life in Minneapolis of the mid-1960s. There is enormous attention to detail. Clothes, furniture, decorations. This time, now more than 40 years gone, is brought back. I found this enormously evocative as well.
The plot, such as it is, concerns the trials of life for physics professor Larry Gopnik as he hits a bad patch. No spoilers here. But this is not actually plot driven. I don't suspect the point of view will be very surprising to many.
The dialogue is sharp. Not a single person in here looks anything like a movie star. This is another odd Coen brothers movie concerning people who behave oddly. I'm not sure it adds up to much. But it is certainly well done.
Follow Ups:
The lead actor just didn't draw me in. He's a broadway actor and his skills simply didn't translate to the big screen. The Coens tried to get him to be like the slack-jawed Turturro in Barton Fink, but Turturro is a far more engrossing film actor who can instantly convey emotion on a visceral level.Another problem was the message. Usually the Coens can offer a new way of looking at things, but not here. It's just a cheap narrative to arrive at the same Hollywood cliche: don't look for answers in religion. To me that was very disappointing. I can get that same perspective anywhere; I don't need it from the Coens.
I had a problem with the depiction of Judaism. My friends and I were Bar Mitzvah'ed during the height of a drug craze, yet we didn't sneak into the bathroom to get stoned before reading our Haftorah portion. I don't want to give away the film's "climax" such as it was, but it's not really a spoiler to say the kid got stoned and the picture was manipulated to show a tunnel-vision type of treatment. This did not exactly show the ceremony in the best light--literally and figuratively. I seriously doubt anyone has gotten stoned before reciting the Haftorah, including Joel or Ethan Coen. Why, then, did they put it in the movie? Yeah, it's kind of entertaining but do we really need this negative imagery of one of the most important occasions in a Jewish kid's life? Not to mention the family dysfunction on every level. The rabbis all portrayed to be buffoons. The relative arrested for gambling and sex crimes. I wasn't digging it.
While I consider the Coens my favorite filmmakers currently working, it's not unprecedented for their films to fall flat for me. The Man Who Wasn't There didn't work. Neither did Intolerable Cruelty. Even Miller's Crossing lacked magic that so many other Coen productions have. Barton Fink, Big Lebowski and O Brother blew me away on so many levels. I was really hoping A Serious Man would too. But it never got off the ground. As you say, it's a convincing period piece but I found no meat to bite into. Hopefully their next project, a remake of True Grit, proves better.
-------------
We must be the change we wish to see in the world. -Gandhi
Edits: 10/29/09
Post a Followup:
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
