Joel and Ethan Coen make movies like nobody else's, but even by their standards A Serious Man is in a class by itself: a complete original that's one of the brothers' best. After a deeply weird Yiddish folk-tale prologue set in 19th-century Poland (and framed in the old 1.33:1 format), the picture shifts to the region and era of the Coens' own upbringing, a Minneapolis suburb in 1967. Larry Gopnik (a superbly concentrated portrait in comic anguish by Michael Stuhlbarg) is a college physics prof facing a welter of crises and distractions: review by the tenure committee, son Danny's bar mitzvah, a cryptic-verging-on-sinister protest from a Korean-American student, the alienation of wife Judith's affections by widower Sy Ableman, the ongoing encroachment of brother Arthur and his sebaceous cyst--and don't even mention the proto-Nazi who lives next door. All these, and more, form a screenplay of such intricacy that the blackly comic tensions of one shaggy-dog narrative strand leap synapse-like to another; the movie becomes a symphony of metaphysical dread. Working again with world-class cameraman Roger Deakins and editing, as always, under the pseudonym Roderick Jaynes, the Coens maintain impeccable control over the movie's look and timing. This is more crucial than ever, given that in the precarious universe they define, "actions have consequences." Then again, so does nonaction; not ordering "the monthly main selection" from the Columbia Record Club means you've ordered it. The main-title credits almost flaunt the fact that most of the cast members will be unfamiliar to us (though they all deliver); best known are Richard Kind as Arthur, Adam Arkin as Larry's divorce lawyer, and Michael Lerner (the studio boss in Barton Fink) doing a hilarious, wordless cameo as Solomon Schlutz. Special praise is due Fred Melamed, seizing the role of a lifetime as the unctuous Sy Ableman; Amy Landecker as Mrs. Samsky, the multifariously zoned-out siren who's Larry's other next-door neighbor; and Avi Hoptman as Arlen, Larry's mealy-mouthed academic colleague who can't resist hinting at the latest rumblings from the tenure committee, even if he can't really say anything. --Richard T. Jameson
Michael Stuhlbarg | Larry Gopnik |
Prof. Lawrence 'Larry' Gopnik | |
Richard Kind | Uncle Arthur |
Uncle Arthur | |
Sy Ableman | |
Fred Melamed | Sy Ableman |
Sari Wagne Lennick | |
Judith Gopnik | |
Sari Lennick | Judith Gopnik |
Michael Stuhlberg | |
Aaron Wolff | Danny Gopnik |
Danny Gopnik | |
Jessica McManus | Sarah Gopnik |
Sarah Gopnik | |
Peter Breitmayer | Mr. Brandt |
Mr. Brandt | |
Aaron Wolf | |
Danny's Reefer Buddy | |
Brent Braunschweig | Mitch Brandt |
David Kang | Clive Park |
Avi Hoptman | |
Boy on Bus | |
Benjy Portnoe | Danny's Reefer Buddy |
Cursing Boy on Bus | |
Mike Fagle | |
Jack Swiler | Boy on Bus |
Rabbi Marshak | |
Andrew S. Lentz | Cursing Boy on Bus |
Jon Kaminski Jr. | Mike Fagle |
Ari Hoptman | Arlen Finkle |
Alan Mandell | Rabbi Marshak |
Amy Landecker | Mrs. Samsky |
George Wyner | Rabbi Nachtner |
Stephen Park | |
Michael Tezla | Dr. Sussman |
Katherine Borowitz | Friend at the Picnic |
Steve Park | Clive's Father (as Stephen Park) |
Allen Lewis Rickman | Shtetl Husband |
Yelena Shmulenson | Shtetl Wife |
Fyvush Finkel | Dybbuk? |
Ronald Schultz | Hebrew School Teacher |
Raye Birk | Dr. Shapiro |
Jane Hammill | Larry's Secretary |
Claudia Wilkens | Marshak's Secretary |
Simon Helberg | Rabbi Scott |
Adam Arkin | Divorce lawyer |
James Cada | Cop #1 (as Jim Cada) |
Jim Cada | Cop #1 |
Thomas Johnston | Script Supervisor |
Michael Lerner | Solomon Schlutz |
Charles Brin | Hebrew School Principal |
Michael Engel | Torah Blesser |
Tyson Bidner | Magbiah |
Phyllis Harris | Hebrew School Tea Lady |
Piper Sigel-Bruse | D'vorah Piper (as Sigel Bruse) |
Hannah Nemer | Sarah's Friend |
Rita Vassallo | Law Firm Secretary |
Warren Keith | Dick Dutton (as Warren David Keith) |
Neil Newman | Cantor |
Tim Russell | Detective #1 |
Jim Lichtscheidl | Detective #2 |
Wayne A. Evenson | Russell Krauss (as Wayne Evenson) |
Scott Thompson Baker | Sci-Fi Movie Hero (as Scott Baker) |
Jenny Eagan | Assistant Costume Designer |
Landyn Banx | Physics Student |
Alana Bloom | Physics Student |
Nicole Kruex | Physics Student |
Carter Burwell | Composer |
Stephanie Bright | Physics Student (uncredited) |
Rita Cannon | Physics Student |
Roger Deakins | Cinematographer |
Matt Cici | Physics Student |
Ethan Coen | Editor |
Devon A Early | Physics Student |
Joel Coen | Editor |
David Cohen | Bar Mitzvah Guest (uncredited) |
John Edel | 1960s Beach Party Attendee (uncredited) |
Rachel Grubb | Bar Mitzvah Guest (uncredited) |
Arne Gjelten | Physics Student (uncredited) |
Sherilyn Henderson | Neighborhood Kid (uncredited) |
Steven Wothe Jr | Bar Mitzvah and Funeral Guest (uncredited) |
Phil Barrie | Sound Department |
Chris C. Benson | Sound Department |
Punnavith Koy | Physics Nerd (uncredited) |
Craig Berkey | Sound Department |
Tim Bevan | Executive Producer |
Eric Fellner | Executive Producer |
Tammara Melloy | Mom on the beach (uncredited) |
Lauri Mueller | Bar Mitzvah and Funeral Guest (uncredited) |
Katherine Loudenslager | Hostess (uncredited) |
Johnna Chism | Sound Department |
Marko A. Costanzo | Sound Department |
Amanda Day | Physics Student |
Helen Murray | Grocery Store Patron (uncredited) |
Lisa Pechmiller | Bar Mitzvah Guest (uncredited) |
Joel Dougherty | Sound Department |
Asher Pink | Bar Mitzvah Guest (uncredited) |
Eric Harwood | Sound Department |
Jon Foss | Physics Student |
Kenton Jakub | Sound Department |