A Serious Man

A SERIOUS MAN

Up For:
Best Motion Picture of the Year
Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen

Honestly, what would the Academy Awards be without a Coen Brothers film these days? A staple in the Awards for almost 2 decades, not seeing them at the Oscars for at least one award would be a rare occurrence. Winning the big awards (Best Picture, Screenplay, and Directing) in 2007, they make a return this year with Best Picture & Screenplay.

Best Picture, no way. With no offense what-so-ever to the Coen Brothers, this was not a Best Picture. It definitely deserved the nomination, because out of the year, this was the one film that felt like an Oscar-nominated film.

The screenplay, however, was fantastic. Deeply rooted in the Jewish culture, it created an entire world (set, dialogue, atmosphere) that was Yiddish through and through. Not just anyone could produce such a screenplay, and, if by some miracle, Serious Man wins the Best Screenplay, I will approve.

The performance from lead star Michael Stuhlbarg was great. Though the film had a Ben Stiller-esc feel where everything bad is happening to the main character, I somehow was less annoyed than I am in a "Stiller" (Meet The Fockers, nothing ever goes right for Stiller in that film and it ends up being painful). Stuhlbarg's reactions and timing make for a decent flick.

Overall, Coen Brothers definitely have an aura about them. Take away their name from the cover of the Blu Ray case, with no knowledge that it was them, and I would have walked away from the film, wondering whether the Coen Brothers were at it again. They have created a type of film all their own (like Tarantino, he more or less revolutionized an existing film-type, but you know when you've just watched a Tarantino film).

(31 FILMS TO GO)