Some people throw around the word genius a little too freely when it comes to the brothers Coen. They have had their hits and their misses for every No Country for Old Men or Fargo is a Ladykillers or Burn After Reading. The Coen Brothers, regardless of any flops, have indelibly left their mark on filmmaking and it is in 2009 that they offer up their most personal, and brilliant work to date. A Serious Man follows Larry Gopnik, a very serious jewish man, as his life crumbles before him. His wife is leaving him for his best friend who also attempts to console him, his son smokes pot, and his daughter is saving money up for a nose job. At work he is being bribed by a student to bring his grade up and blackmailed by him at the same time, meanwhile he is up for tenure. The whole film plays like a modern rendition of the book of Job in the bible. What is wonderful is that this film is filled with all the dark humor of Fargo and all the serious ambiguities of No Country for Old Men, while offering us what is probably the closest glimpse at the childhood of the Coens as we are ever going to get. This film is hard to write about as it is so wonderful on the strengths of its writing that all of the other elements, all top notch, seem to fall in line with the greatness of the words. Then there is the ending, oy vey what an ending. This film has perhaps one of my favorite endings of the year if not the best one. This film struck me in a way that for the next week coming I just couldn't shake it. If you live in chicago the Landmark is still playing it, grab a friend and go see the best work the brothers have made yet.
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