Much like Broken Flowers, A Serious Man is another movie which I wanted to revisit now that I'm older in order to see if I could grasp it more than I may have when I was a teenager. The movie is about the uncertainty of life, and how the more we turn towards traditionalism and logic, we often become more confused. There's too much spontaniety unaccounted for in the universe for us to ever truly understand it all, and rules are often broken. In that sense, A Serious Man appears to be a surprisingly nihilistic character study. While I definitely laughed at a few scenes, I didn't find this as comedic or as quotable as other Coen brother movies. However, much like their other works, A Serious Man resembles a novel nearly as much as it does a movie. Due to the subtleties and intentional non-answers throughout, I can see why I didn't quite grasp these things as an 18 year old watching this movie. I can also see why, according to Rotten Tomatoes, there was a huge drop off between critics and audience in terms of reception.
I'm not going to pretend like this is any sort of masterpiece, nor will I front as though any of the characters in A Serious Man necessarily stood out to me, despite my love of seeing Richard Kind on screen whenever I get the opportunity to. This is not a typical Coen Brothers film, but that the same time it could be weirdly argued that it is also the most Coen Brothers film. All in all, this definitely is one where I left in some sort of reflection of my own life, and therefore - I liked it.
Broken Flowers was shockingly good, and equally poetic. More enjoyable overall, with its clear-cut plot line and the obvious talents of Bill Murray. Still, between A Serious Man, Broken Flowers, and St. Vincent - I've have one hell of a nice little self reflective weekend watching movies. I won't even account for Force Awakens or Napoleon Dynamite, which were more of a palette cleanser than anything else.
I'm going to continue watching movies again during quarantine, I think. It's a lot nicer since I've gone sober. I feel like I'm reading into things more, and therefore developing some sort of understanding.