A Serious Man

A Serious Man (2009)

Well, Dad would have loved this movie. He loved the Book of Job (enough so that a verse from it is on his headstone) and this is a fairly good retelling with a few skirmishes into Jefferson Airplanes and other things. We enjoyed it very much. Here's a few things to think about:

In one Jewish tradition, Job does sin. He is placed in Pharaoh's court prior to the Exodus as an advisor. He remains silent when asked his opinion about killing the Hebrew boys. So all the bad things happen to him because of his sin of silence (he gets everything back anyway). A less accepted tradition is that Job was not one of Pharaoh's advisors and therefore did not sin as he claims in the story. One of the stories says that his wife and children didn't die, that they just got caught up in a windstorm and then blew back at the end.

Look up Schroedinger's Cat in wikipedia. It will help in understanding what the professor is talking about. Think about the idea of knowing the math but not the story in this recent incident I had at school: we were taking a walk with my students. One of my assistants wanted to cut across the grass to make it shorter as she knew the math behind the Pythagorean theorem. My other assistant said it was shorter staying on the sidewalk since he knew the story behind not walking in dog poop.

Also re-listen to all your Jefferson Airplane cassettes or 8-tracks. The lyrics are important clues into Kabbalalistic humor. Also into what one witty reviewer said about Coen Brothers' movies: They're either a parable or a joke. Maybe both.

The opening sequence with the dybbuk is crucial to the rest of the movie. Especially the hilarious response that the Korean father has to the professor. Compare the husband's denial of the dybbuk with the wife's acknowledgement of it. Their differences seem to be the main mystical motif throughout the movie.

The movie credits mention the "last of the just." Look up "Lamed Vovnik" in wikipedia. Also read an incredible book called The Last of the Just by a French author who happens to have the incredible last name of Scharwtz-Bart. Can't get any more incredible a name than that. Unless you leave off the first part.

The No Country for Old Men movie by the same Coen Brothers had a disclaimer at the end of the credits about the movie having a zero (or some other really low number) carbon footprint due to their ability to plant trees somewhere. The Serious Man has a disclaimer about "no Jews having been harmed in the making of this movie." Except the movie was made in the Coen's childhood home around Minneapolis (the grocery store scene was shot in Coopers grocery just two miles from our house). I'm hearing many reports of Jews in the Twin City burbs screaming about how the Coens are just making fun of them. Well, it ain't hard. The scene of the nude neighbor with the mezzuzah on the wrong side of the door is a pretty good joke on the silent assimilation of the Jews of the '60s. Except they got the mezzuzah joke from current events. In the nearby burbs. Maybe the sin of the silence of assimilation is what the Coen's are really getting across  in this really good movie.

The Maiden Heist (2009)

Straight-to-DVD (due to bankruptcy of production company) very beautiful, funny, sweet, well-casted comedy with Morgan Freeman, Christopher Walken and William H. Macy. Marcie Gay Harden is wonderful as Walken's wife. I loved the movie. Just a feel-good, laughter, art-inspiring movie.

Very funny joke for people who might be from Denmark. Or maybe it's funnier if you're not from Denmark, like most people. Of course, it helps to understand the joke if you know where the hell Copenhagen is. Took me a few minutes. I think Denmark type people might like the ending setting.
Wait, raise your hand if you are from Denmark.