The movie is full of schrodinger cats. Did the student really bribe him? He was both married and separated at the same time. It was his house but he didn't live there. I feel it was more about the uncertainty of life. The ending meaning the only true certainty is death.
Actually the movie is ONLY about Schrodinger cat !! This movie is one of a very few movies that I watched more than 3 times The opening scene is the key to understand the entire movie. The old man is both alive and dead The brother is both crazy and smart The kid is both hard working and corrupted His wife is both a fine woman and a nasty one He himself is a believer and a doubter His kid at the last scene is both alive and dead There is God and there is no God That's the message of the entire movie.
For sure there are many messages and hundreds of interpretations. I'm reading a lot of intuitions I didn't notice although I saw this movie at least 4 times! This is what I see as the key of the story: Rabbi Marshak!!!He doesn't talk to Larry(don't know way) but he do talk to his son Danny and tell him the ultimate truth that perhaps his father need more. The Marshak/Danny dialogue goes: Rabbi Marshak: When the truth is found. To be lies...And all the hope..Within you dies.....Then what? Grace Slick. Marty Balin. Paul Kanta. Jorma... Danny Gopnik: Kaukonen. Rabbi Marshak: ...something. These are the membas of the Airplane. Interesting. Here.......Be a good boy! Now,he ask a question that has a lot to do with his father situation,when all the hope within you dies than what?? And than surprisingly start to talk about the Airplane which has nothing to do whit the heavy question he just put on the table. And then come the occult answer of a real Master: When all the hope within you dies,becouse too many aspects of your life are going concurrently bad,than what?Answer: Be a good boy!!! And this is exactly what Larry,in the very following scene,does not. He is changing his student vote becouse he really needs money and must be exhausted about life treating him so badly! So just for once in his whole life he's not a serius man and "life/nature/god/universe/karma"instantly reacts. The telephone is now ringing and the doctor has very bad news...very bad! So remember....Be a good boy!
But wasn’t Schrödinger’s cat an example used to show how absurd it is to not have a concrete answer bc the cat can’t be both alive and dead. The answer wasn’t up to the observer of the box that the cat was in. The answer was in the box
Johana Marin absolutely agree and i think that’s the awful thing which the movie tries to convey via larry. there always IS a concrete answer but so often we just can’t know it. that might be tolerable in small doses or infrequently throughout life, but poor larry is feeling it run amok in his own
@@lorenzoguarda4059 nice try, but I'm afraid it's not entirely true. "And than surprisingly start to talk about the Airplane which has nothing to do whit the heavy question he just put on the table." The question is from the lyrics of the song. The Airplane is the band Jefferson Airplane and the question he raises are literally the lyrics of their song "Somebody to love" that plays several times in the movie "When the truth is found to be lies and all the *joy* within you dies... don't you want somebody to love?". The only word that was changed was joy because the Rabbi says "hope" instead of joy: The phone call revealing his illness at the end cannot be a punishment for his decision to take the bribe because it's just the result of the x-rays he takes at the very beginning of the movie. If it was a punishment, then the punishment would have been pre-determined.
With all movies I expected a Happy ever after. As it welled up as everything was falling into place, and it ended! I was pissed, hurt, bewildered! And I immediately thought of my own life. All the questions all the agony, why? Why me?! So bizarre, it gave me the answers. In short shit happens, get over it! Loved it
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. Once you label me you negate me.
@@slangsd Oh okay. But what happens if that label is accurate. Or the purpose of the label is not to negate, but other reasons. Maybe the label is a way to communicate and better understand what would otherwise be an esoteric or inaccessible explanation? What if the label is being used to break down barriers and actually aid in truly learning and understanding rather than the opposite. I think labels and genres have bad reputations based on the way they've been used, but just like denotation and connotation it doesn't have to be that way.
I fucking love this movie. It had such a quiet run in theaters compared to other Cohen Brothers films, but it's aged so well. It has a similar feeling to Fargo, in that, on first viewing, the movie is terribly dark and bleak. On repeat viewings, though, it becomes _hilarious_ .
This is one of the most beautiful films I have seen. The cinematography is amazing. The scene where they are at the Synagogue and the camera focuses on the boy and everything is out of focus is genius.
Nerdwriter1, I really enjoyed your perspective on this film. I'm not nearly as astute as you in regards to film but I had believed that the intro was in fact the parable version of Schrödinger's cat. The act of stabbing the Dybbuk(?) was in fact the act of looking into the box and observing the result. My belief was that this raises the importance of Schrödinger's cat in regards to the rest of the film. No one saw the student leave the money on the desk and the twister at the end only became real to Danny when he looked up and observed it's forming presence. What does all this mean? Fuck if I know. This has hung me up for years. Your version is better worded and makes a lot of sense but I can't get over the opening parable and Schrödinger's cat myself. Fun watch though and thank you. :)
M. Ray from a religious perspective (i thought the film was full of these interesting interpretations) I believed that the first chapter was about evil (=evil in humans, whether greed, hate, disbelief, dishonesty. a whole palette. It doesn't matter what the individual "sin" is but rather just a general term for "Bad" or "Evil") and a question about whether the Rabbi was an "evil" person who the good men and women drove out and thus 'Good riddance = good that the devil/evil has been cast out from among them. On the other hand one could believe that the lady was instead "evil" here and stabbing an innocent man who might be telling the truth to them and that the woman said "Good riddance" in a manner that is often used to address larger issues than we humans face ("Just get rid of them, don't think about them, don't talk about them." Good Riddance) Also the literal stabbing is something that is against all christian, judaist and many other religious doctrines i think - "Thou shalt not kill" And so forth. - Again going back to the first part here, it could just as well be symbolism that the woman was trying to protect evil from entering their household and hearts by not submitting to believe his lies, even if they were going to face punishment after when the Rabbi was going to tell everyone that they killed him, if they were infact lies that the rabbi was telling.
As with all of your Understanding Art Film videos, I see the video in my subscriptions, open it, pause it, watch the movie elsewhere, and then return to your video. It's always so rewarding! This was absolutely superb. Thank you!
There are two parts of the movie. The question: Schrodinger cat, the uncertainty of it all. Indeed, the more we look for the answer, the less happy we become. There are two examples in this movie - you either forget and let go, either you continue asking the same question and loose your mind and your life. First example is Goy, who tried to crack the mystery of the message engraved on the backside of the patient's teeth, which made him loose sleep and appetite until he eventually let it go and continued living. The second example is Larry's brother, Arthur, who spent his whole trying to crack the Universe, which left him all alone, sick and with nothing to his name, simply because he didn't want to quit. But both of this examples are of what already happened. Now we are observing Larry, as all the misery falls upon him. Naturally first reaction is to ask why? So he goes and seeks help from the Rabbis. The first and the youngest (least experienced) says it's all about perspective. The middle aged one says - who cares? just keep living. The eldest one and the wisest answers this question through Larry's kid, simply put - just "be a good boy" - keep living and act righteous, regardless of what's going on. No matter the reason, what important is your actions - stop asking questions and don't give in, be a good boy. Following Marshak wisdom, the woman in the very first scene shouldn't have stabbed the old man, who helped her husband in a difficult situation, even if he is an evil demon. What if he's not? Then she's the one who killed him and in fact evil. In Larry's situation, he took every challenge well and stayed a good guy no matter what was happening to him, but changing the grade and taking the bribe made him a hypocrite. Even though everything just started going well - his wife is back, he got the job he wanted, changing the grade was an act of giving in. All actions have consequences, we are the ones who's going to bring bad or good on ourselves. PS. Another thing that made me think about the whole looking for an answer (second chance, call it what you want) thing: It's just like trying to get your music player back. You could pick the lock of the teacher's drawer and still not be able to find it. But in the end it will come to you (When Marshak gives it back). One thing tho, don't repeat the same mistake twice, or you might summon the tornado.
There is no god? I've always thought that god existed within this film, because of the ending. Larry only does what's right and gets shit, and when he finally says fuck it and do something wrong (changing the student's grade) he suffers the consequences: The world's end, hence god's retribution. I thought that only added to the frustration the movie wanted to convey, how unfair things can be and still you don't understand why...
Lucas Garibaldi I agree with what he said. I didn't see it the way u saw it, but i guess that's the point of uncertainty of randomness in life, at the end of the day it's about perspective. How u interpret it :)
Lucas Garibaldi I think that's part of the point, What happens to Larry can't really be traced to some cosmic score keeper and thus we shouldn't spend so much time trying to keep score ourselves. If he always did the right thing and bad things happened, and then he changed and bad things still happened it's not really anything conclusive.
+Lucas Garibaldi I quite agree. If this movie had an atheist core, I do not understand the parallel to Job, especially consider the tornado at the end: "Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." (Job 38:1-4)
***** Actually I didn't expressed myself very well. What I meant to say was: Bad things were always happening to him and he endured them, but when he finally says fuck it, he got it the worst way possible. There was always a force making his life miserable to a point where he couldn't take it anymore and when he tried to defy it, his life was ruined beyond repair.
You might think that religion is not relevant today. it is more relevant than ever. People who turn away from it are depressed by the media that makes you feel inadequate for not being rich and famous. I am Jewish and the Chabad movement is becoming more popular than ever. People are hungry for spirituality. Secularism is a religion too and not a very happy one.
Wonderful analysis and video. So many people misinterpret (or just don't get) the Coen Brothers films and none more so than this film, along with The Man Who Wasn't There and Barton Fink. It's such a subtle and brilliant film and there's so much going on in it and this video nicely opens a window onto that inner meaning. I've often said that if you want to know the "point" behind a Coen Brothers film, look at the last few moments, when they usually sum it up. In this film, as Larry Gopnick finally thinks his fortunes are turning around gets the call from his doctor that bodes worse times ahead, his son watches a tornado approaching, representing the impending suffering he and his family are going to go through. And, just as it fades to black, we hear the lyrics of the Jefferson Airplane song he is listening to and it all makes sense: life is inscrutable and meaning is unknowable and you are destined to suffer, so YOU'D BETTER FIND SOMEBODY TO LOVE.
You turn your own atheism and idiosyncratic understanding of "stupidity" (absurdity ?) into a conclusion for a film that is explicitly a 1950s version of the *Book of Job*. You noticed every detail but missed the most obvious. Somehow like Bergman, you equate the trial of silence to loss of faith. For a religious person, it can be the opposite and that's more likely the Judaic perspective of this film. But its nebulosity, as you described it, is more than enough to make it completely ambiguous and a mirror for own reflections, so who knows?
+Virgil Grissom Very sorry. Rephrased for reassessment: _You turn your own atheism and your very personal understanding of "stupidity" (comic meaninglessness?) into a conclusion for a film that states of itself it is the Book of Job story set in the 1950s. You took up many small things but missed the important bit. Somehow, like one impossibly fancy and now dead Swedish director known in the more pedantic circles for his "Trilogy of Silence", you think facing a big silence automatically means losing what you believe in. If you're religious you could react very differently, like Jews who would see this movie. But because this movie is hazy and mysterious, as Nerdwriter1 says, its meaning is never too clear and perhaps what you see in it is only your own imagination and thinking, so who knows?_
+Nerdwriter1 Hey best review i've seen so far. Just watched and loved this movie. I noticed though that in the three rabbis' advice he gets, you pointed out how the third represented the divine silence in the face of the big questions. The scene immediately after is his brother breaking down and blaming Hashem, and Larry consoles him saying, "it's not fair to blame Hashem... sometimes you have to help yourself". This is the third advice. The scene ends with Larry giving his brother a hug. He found somebody to love.
About the atheist aspect: The Coen Bros leave that question open as well. Is the tornado a retribution for Larry's sins? maybe... maybe not. The point of the film is that there is nothing curtain, nothing definitive: not the identity of the stabbed stranger, not anyone's morality and not the life of schrodinger's cat. We have to live with the knowledge that we never really know anything.
If anything wouldn't the phone call about the x-rays (implied cancer/death) be the punishment, as it literally follows as soon as he changes the grade? I don't think God's punishment is inferred here. Both the tornado and the phone call represent death and absurdity, I think. As soon as the 'psuedo-conflicts' are 'resolved', for both the dad and the son, death quickly follows, and all of their previous efforts and anxieties are reduced to triviality.
Good view. Good points For those of us that believe in Elohim. In the Old Testament (Jew) When Satan tell God (more or less) Job loves you because you blessed him...what happens when you take everything from him? Can he stand up and be a man and not lose Faith. Sometimes God breaks you down to build you up... And sometimes you gotta pay for Santana's Abraxas!...
@@jayyy689 to me it's "a broken clock showed the correct time" type of moment. is there a God? there is, and there isn't. if it's such a rare experience (that consequences actually match the nature of the actions, as if there were a God seeing to it), it could be that the universe is just a broken clock, and the irony of getting the bad news right after compromising one's integrity is another cruel joke of indifferent reality. there's another little bit of irony in there. the rabbi tells Larry: "helping others? couldn't hurt". it sounds like the most trivial, non-controversial piece of advice ever (utterly disappointing Larry, because, d'oh). then ultimately Larry helps the Korean student pass the year...
I enjoyed this video but the analysis itself feels more personal to Nerdwriter. I'm surprised that there was no mention of the book of Job and feel that the film is much less atheistic than the essay asserts.
I agree-- Job is absolutely the template of the film. From the different friends of Job giving different, unhelpful advice, to the appearance of the whirlwind, from which the voice of God demands "Where were you when I lay the foundations of the earth? in response to Job's attempt to reconcile the existence of God with evil in the world. As for the film being atheist or not, I think it is using biblical idiom to ask universal questions, questions that apply to human existence whether one is a believer or an atheist.
Got to say, when he made that assertion Nerd completely missed the plot. I do not think the movie remotely promoted atheism. It seems more likely a Rorschach test effect of the reviewer. I learned more about him then the movie.
I really really like this film, one of the Coen's most underrated. Have you seen Pi (1998)? Darren Aronofsky impressive debut. A very different film, but dealing with similar themes.
For me, this movie was all about hermeneutics, as Nerdwriter said without enclosing it in the word itself. It goes to the point where the discourse of the movie breaks the fourth wall as the own viewer is forced to engage in the hermeneutics of it. I finished the movie thinking of how well sorted is a pragmatic religious man life, and how hard it can be for a serious man to understand it and keep consciensce of it. You can unravel the universe mathematically through Uncertain Principles, Schrodinger Cats' and whatnot, but one can argue that a pragmatic way of life, be it religiously, aesthetically or perhaps philosophical, is the closest we can get today in regards to coping with life. I somehow feel like I ventured off the movie and gibberished a tad bit.
Fuck yeah! Absolutely adore your Understanding Art Film videos. No Country for Old Men and Fargo would seem like more common choices when talking about the Coens but it's nice to see someone talk about A Serious Man, one of the Coens' lesser known and appreciated films.
The message of the movie stems from an egocentric view -- that people are separate entities, that they are special, different from the rest. That the world is 'out there' and the self is 'in here'. This view makes living unbearable, because the world seems so large, powerful, untameable, while inside, we are just by ourself, weak, 'what can one person do?', 'we're just a cog'. But reality is not that. When we are born, we don't have this egocentric view. We look at the world as not separate from us. We do not think the 'world is out there and 'I' am in here' but rather 'there is just the world' and we are part of it. We are the immense, we are the large, we are everything. When we act, it's because the world acts. But we grow up and are taught that our 'self' is in this tiny body and that's all the self is. Enlightenment is realizing this warped view of reality is wrong and there is no tiny self. Just as the sun shines, clouds breeze by, flowers bloom, trees wave in the wind, we are also part of the world. Not separate. Thus wonderful. But the Coen brothers are rather shallow and have never bothered to tap into an understanding of reality that all beings are born with but have been covered up and needs to be cleared away with a strong leaf-blower. 'A Serious Man' just adds more leaves and dirt to cover up reality.
@Anthony James Bulldis But Larry Gopnik is a righteous man. He has a socially valuable and prestigious job (teaching others), he has a family and property, he's a good god-fearing Jew, he's financially stable, people depend on him, etc. And also, in the story of Job, God appears in a whirlwind... which is exactly the same as how the movie ends...
@@HammarHeart I like the idea that he can be viewed as a righteous man, but that would have to be from a superficial perspective, right? There is a distinct lack of communication between Larry and his family, other than him asking "What is going on?" or being told to do something by someone else. In contrast, he spends a lot of time tracking down rabbis to talk with them and seems to place a priority on learning the lessons of the masters, be they religious or scientific. Maybe you could say he is god-fearing, but he doesn't seem particularly religious in his perspective, other than when he is at his wit's end.
It also a film about how Judaism, and indeed religion as a whole, is completely incompatible with the modern world and really has no place outside of tradition anymore.
Every once in a while I uncontrollably rewatch this video, most recent was my sixth time over the last 5 years. Out of all the video analyses of film or story I have ever scene, this video is, without a doubt, the best I have ever seen, masterfully crafted. Hats off to Nerwriter. I am even seeing other channels mimic you. Your are the jimi Hendrix of youtube analysis.
Its been mentioned before, but you missed the very important interpretive piece that "A serious man" is actually a mirror of the book of Job, with three friends replaced by three rabbis, a disease that might kill him, a wife that's tired of him, and a storm at the conclusion. Also if I'm not mistaken this movie was called "The good jew" when it was released in Israel. Might be wrong there. Point is, while this is a very astute interpretation, it misses a big piece of intertextuality that the Koen brothers designed into the movie meaning your interpretation is missing a big piece. Its like missing the mirror built into the big lebowski between the showdown between the big Lebowski and the nihilists, and the moment when Peter cuts off one of the soldier's ears in the gospel. Its THE scene that cements the interpretation of the big Lebowski as the "savior" of our age. The religious aspect is important for understanding the piece of art, as, in the case of both the big lebowski and A serious man, it is the model and inspiration for the film, adapted to meet the koen brothers own needs. Would have liked to hear your thoughts on that subject as well as all the rest.
Nerdwriter1 Although an episode on Funny Games or The White Ribbon or Cache would be amazing, The Seventh Continent destroyed me the first time I saw it. I don't know whether there's really anything more to analyze in Seventh Continent, and perhaps that's why I bring it up.
Gojko Dimic Haneke is a genius and my favorite director. I would freak out if you did an analysis on one of his films. Take a look at his film "The Seventh Continent" It's broken into three acts. In the first act you never see anyone's faces, just the routines that they complete. Despite the morbid subject I though it was crafted beautifully. It was through my frustration with the depressing subject matter that I read many analysis's after my first viewing.
akhan727 I agree, he is my favorite director too. I think all of his films are worthy of an analysis on this channel. The way they are composed and how they unfold in a subtle and raw way. It's like they are stripped down to their purest and most essential form. I learned a lot by watching his films.
Gojko Dimic Yes, Haneke's white ribbon is great. Although being hard to watch, it is one of the most disturbing pieces about a dysfunctional society and morality. Especially as a german.
I don't think "A Serious Man" necessarily questions the usefulness of religion. I think it questions the use of religion to try to find one single answer. The overall idea of the movie is actually supportive of religion - the idea that we can never really fully understand everything.
Job stuck to his faith and it allowed him to overcome all the terrible things he experienced. Larry's problem is that he's got nothing to stick to. There is no higher meaning he can look up to.
The relationship between Larry and Mrs Sanski is one of my favorite parts of the film. It well illustrates the relatable feeling of just having no idea how to interpret the situation your in, and the messages given to you. Especially those of a sexual nature when you are lost as to whether you've got the complete wrong end of the stick. Also a good source of laughs.
""You're killing your father, Larry .... !!!" Says The Dude in The Big Lebowski (another brothers Coen movie). Little Larry is a headstrong adolescent. And he's not very little.
every frame does not conclude stuff unsure, not like here that promoted disbelief in God like he resurrected from death. just lost all my respect for this channel
Your art analysis is amazing. Truly inspirational. I myself had a bar mitzvah and went through a lot of the same thoughts -- "Why am I reciting something I do not understand" -- and it provides a great metaphor for the whole of this movie, and the Coen's philosophy on existence. Bravo.
Especially at the end of the movie, the tornado coming towards his son is heavily implied to be God's wrath and Grace Slick's vocals in his headphones, the voice of God. At least that's the way I interpreted it.
Massive Douche I’m not sure god comes in at any point. Larry is searching for something to compel him from the outside both in physics and Judaism. He fails. Danny has no such problems. He does what he wants and is perturbed by violating the rules he is supposed to follow. When he gets to meet the ‘truth’, or divine guidance that Larry is never allowed to meet marshak merely quotes Jefferson airplane and says ‘be a god boy’. Which to me means to advise a sort of nietzshean self assertion along with the somewhat hedonistic implication of choosing the representative hippie song combined with Danny’s character throughout the movie. At the end we get Danny listening to Jefferson airplane and Larry violating his morals (social morals not his own personal) while the implied destruction is coming in. Might be a stretch , but the end where he tries to pay fagle could mean it doesn’t work if you take selfishness as more important than mores, even if you respect them both, it won’t work. But idk how else to interpret the marshak Danny encounter.
My favorite movie of all times. I've always understood the movie and the ending as metaphors that people tend to focus on the non-essential things - the dilemma with the bribe, his wife, etc. And when the real, unsolvable problem came his way, he suddenly realize, that he had the wrong priorities all this time... The tragedy of it is that his son behaved the same way. The son was so obsessed with his debt problem, that he was unable to see the real tornado that was coming at him. Just like his father....
But later on he tried to return back that 20 dollar bill and the guy looked back like the tornado is coming, and you should be worried about it instead of 20$ bill
Yup, schrodingers's Cat and the Book of Job - but everyone seems to miss the most important and heartbreaking scene of the movie - the breakdown of Uncle arthur - the formidable Richard Kind - It puts everything in perspective - Life is shit, but there is always a poor soul who suffers worse than I (us)! This is the most nihilistic part of the movie - as we realise that even Job had a good life before the disaster - a lot of people never had a life at all!
A Serious Man has got to be in the top three greatest films of the opening 21st century. I didn't agree with the message, but in true Coen Brothers fashion, they made me think. Bless 'em for it.
The best review of the film I have come across. But I think there is some more to the prologue. The peasant's wife stabs Groshkover because she thought God had cursed them and sent a demon to their house. The odd part of this sequence is that when her husband says he had met Groshkover, she shows fear in her face immediately. While a sane person would only display disbelief and surprise at hearing about someone they thought was deceased, she reacts with apprehension. She is one of those believers that think demons are out there and that they may haunt her any time, unlike her "rational" husband.
Man, you could take a family vacation's footage and convince everyone that they were trying to present an alegory of quantum mechanics. Your analysis are just pure poetry. Thank you.
I love your analysis! I have similar view on this film and by the way it's one of my favorites. I've seen it over a 100 times. To me very important is the quotation after the prolog which says "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." and also when Larry says to the second Rabbi "I think the honest answer is I don't know."
It's interesting that you didn't bring up the Book of Job for which this movie was a modern interpretation of. Love your videos and I look forward to more to come.
I think The Book of Job and Joseph Roth's work is so integral to this film that it should be noted. Especially when giving an interpretation on the story and themes. As opposed to the subjective visual poetry which this piece doesn't seem to focus on.
I actually found that one of my main interpretations of the film (not its intended meaning) was that Larry should be viewing the people around him with much more skepticism and cynicism, rather than assume a cosmic or moral lesson in events that are largely caused by human wrong doing. Of course his illness and the tornado at the end don't fit into that. But I've found this to be a useful principle for real life. I do believe in God, but not a God which directly controls the events of our lives. If there's a problem, look at "what's going on" with skepticism and discernment and try to figure out an intelligent solution, rather than assume God is trying to tell you something. Which is actually a sort of projection of our own psychology This would extend to distrusting self appointed authorities (such as religious leaders) who try to impose the narrative of their own belief system on events that are complicated, difficult, and require real intelligence and grit to work through. I'm not a nihilist, but I do embrace radical skepticism as a method.
In junior high school we used to visit our relatives in the middle west. They were conservative protestants and were fine people but, like images on a billboard, I never knew who they were behind their proper personalities, reflective of their religious values. I think Larry Gopnik is like my mid western relatives except more so because he is almost paralyzed, almost unable to be an independent adult, because he has so internalized the (religious values) requirement to be "a nice Jewish boy". And you could see all of the adults in this Jewish community as similarly trying to live up to religious values, as with my middle western relatives, not as extreme as Larry but the same pattern. The kids aren't doing this, at least not when their parents aren't around. Refreshingly, they get into fights and curse and shout at each other. And then there is the WONDERFUL old Rabbi. Never pushing his authority at Danny, in fact letting him take the lead, warmth, supporting Danny's love of the Airplane even admiring their lyrics! and affection with a twinkle in his eye when he says "be a good boy." A human relationship between them which Danny will hence forth always contrast to the peril of turning into "a nice Jewish boy". So what is the failing of conventional religion? That what, if it were authentic, should awaken us fully, instead, in its counterfeit, turns us into a formula, into a life of emotional limitation admired for its propriety.
The film starts out with a quote by the Rabbinic Sage, Rashi, who says: in all things, seek simplicity. The film takes Schroeder's cat as a framework, because everything in the movie is contradictory yet true. None of the other characters ask the simple but repetitive questions Larry asks, because they all have they're own deeper interpretation, their lives operate on their own wavelength and no one besides Larry can see the plain and superficial truth. But Larry never finds answers. He never finds answers because you need both simple readings and the complex truths, the math and the cat. But the world around him has disconnected the meaning and the metaphor, God from His symbols
Man, I am so into your perspective. Thanks for reviewing what I think of as the Coen brothers most underrated movie. You have taken what were for me vague outlines of feeling and chiselled them into a coherent analysis, amazing! Also just wondering if you are considering approaching Birdman.
One of the interesting things I've found about this film as I've watched it again and again has been the idea of Larry not doing anything being regarded as a negative at a glance. But is it really? Larry's troubles pile up, one on top of another, when he does nothing, but as he continues to take a passive role and simply tries to understand what is happening to him, those troubles also start to fade away. His wife returns to him. He is granted tenure, his son's Barmitzfah is quite successful, his brother's legal problems seem to be improving. It's taking time and it's taking patience, but he is succeeding. Then he sees a quick way out standing right in front of him, and he gives in to temptation, and all his patience has, perhaps, amounted to nothing due to that one act. Would he have received that phone call if he had not changed the grade? Would the tornado have manifested? Would he have come across another means of paying his bills that did not involve giving in to temptation and immorality? Who can say now? But his efforts to simply be a good person seemed to have been paying off before then.
Nice job with this analysis of one of the Coen's more underrated films. An interpretation of a film about the meaningless of interpretations isn't the easiest task.
@@doritomaster7112 if god exists and you think god gave an objective meaning because it does not involve any human subjectiveness that would be true but there is no reason to believe that god cares to give human life an objective meaning since we dont know any of gods properties The thing you have said by saying not true is that you have assumed there is an objective meaning and the other person assumed that there is no objective meaning
@@doritomaster7112 you are assuming god cares but the same assumption can be made about god does not care about human life and gave no meaning, because if god is truly infinite and we know no properties of god, why should we assume that god most definitely cared about human life when god could also most definitely not care about human life
@@MrEpic6996 there is no logical reason to assume that (or anything, about God, whose nature is by definition beyond our understanding), and probably that's why it's called "faith" ;) "credo quia absurdum"
Interesting take on this marvelous film. Michael Stuhlbarg nails the part of Larry Gopnick, as does everyone else in their roles. Richard Kind is a gem. There are no guarantees in life and the maelstrom of ethics, spirituality, facts, and humanity tie into some of the vignettes in Ecclesiastes; a time to live and a time to die, or Matthew where it rains on the just and the unjust. Sometimes it appears our spiritual umbrella has disintegrated, much as it did for Job over the wager of Satan and God, and one goes from rainstorm to rainstorm, on the razor edge of making a choice to carry on or not. The one true thing about a Coen film, you want to watch it over and over because you know you missed something important. I love this film a lot; I love their work. Just my take.
please... please.. please do a video on any of these There Will Be Blood Synecdoche, New York The Master Funny Games Her Shame Upstream Color The Tree of Life The Shining Enemy Cache The Piano Teacher Magnolia Anerican Psycho Amores Perros Donnie Darko
Nerdwriter1 Also nice how the analysis didn't focus on and stop at "it's the book of job". Religious references aren't interesting in and of themselves. The things you talked about felt more relevant as to why the movie resonates with me.
Great movie, a lot of people don't like it, and that's a sad thing, because is one of the finest work of the Coen Brothers. As always mate, a beautiful analysis.
I'd love to see a series like these videos analysing single scenes in movies - the Brooks parole sequence in The Shawshank Redemption, for instance. that scene has so much incredible imagery - most notably, the way a rectangular mirror is used to frame Brooks like a coffin - that I think you could do an entire video like this on just those few minutes of the film.
Well done, nerdwriter. You managed to explain the movie without ruining it. Your explanation of the dybuuk scene, and the way you used the antennae scene was genius. I totally get why Ebert refused to explain this movie. I think the Coen bros would be happy with this review. I guess I will be watching more of your stuff Nerdwriter
+Nerdwriter1 Using social media to encourage upvoting goes against reddit rules fyi. You could get a site-wide ban on your links if the admins hear of it.
+Nerdwriter1 I have a couple of objections about this analysis, though I mostly agree. The 1st one is the connection between the parable in the beginning and the rest of the film. The character makes a decision (stabbing) without knowing all the info and we are left wondering whether this was a right decision. This ties into the protagonists lack of clarity so I don't think it's entirely nebulous as you put it. Also, I don't think there was a denial of God's existence. The question of God's existence or to find meaning is what is dispelled. If anything, there is an underlying moral, direction and even hint of there being a God or fate. Whenever Danny finally meets with Marshak, we hear the advice Larry so desperately needed, he tells him to be good. Whenever Larry decides to do something not so good by changing the grade, this action brings about a tornado to Danny's school by God or fate. Larry will now find himself with a worse fate than everything that came before, the loss of his son. It's sort of like a remixed story of Job, replacing faith with morality.
Great video Nerdwriter, as always. But I think you are missing that this film is a modern retelling of a Bible story in the Book of Job, where man questions God why bad things happens to good people. Read this book and you'll find the exact same story, characters and events as in A Serious Man. I would not say this movie is telling us to stop deceive ourselves with "a god" and a meaning for life, but it actually has a profound religious sensibility and is asking the exact same question as the Book of Job asks. It is not as much as if man is testing God, but God testing this specific man and bringing a greater good for him.
I really, really liked this film. That said, I'd have been incredibly hard pressed to recall one single event or line of dialogue. I think I need to watch this again.
That ending gave me chills. Can anyone shed light onto what it means? Maybe nerdwriter1 can? If you can, please do, but if not, it’s ok. Searching for the answer isn’t how I wanna live anymore.
@Shrimply Pibbles I'm catching up to this video many years after the fact, but since nobody answered your question, I'll share my take on the ending. To me, the ending illustrated that, for every problem you solve, another one will crop up. You will never get to a point where you have zero problems. And you won't know how the story (life) ends until it actually happens.
Someone else said this. The ending wants to say that the only thing certain is death. Rest everything is uncertain like Schrodinger cat, he was married and unmarried at the same time. Something like that
This has Wittgenstein written all over it. One of the Coen Bros did his thesis on Wittgenstein's later philosophy, which deals with the philosophy of language, math, mind, and psychology, all of which kind of appear as themes or subtexts in some of their movies. This is one of the best adaptations of philosophical thought on film I've ever seen. Kudos on your review though Nerdwriter1! I'm loving this channel.
Interesting that the wisest elder Rabbi only helps the youth and leaves Larry to sink or swim. Marshak tells Danny, “when the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies”. What should we do when the world seems to be crumbling around us? Maybe we should tune our antenna to receive Gods messages. Then we can look at the Universe with a new perspective, realize we are all one and help our fellow man. That is the message I received.
Your conclusion is correct, except it only partially applies. The Coen brothers were essentially commenting on the futility of any Jew seeking spiritual explanation or solace from their Rabbis. The Rabbi inculcates students with teachings of a culture that will ultimately ignore them or cast them out should they ever find themselves in trouble. The Rabbi raises you, teaches you and holds all the keys to your spiritual salvation, but he won't be there for you when you really need him. Judaism offers no answers.
mofomartian big red flags when they like to bite infant penises. And they are so depraved they end up giving the infants herpes. So knowing they have herpes they bite infant penises anyways. So the only conclusions I can draw from that is that they want to normalize pedophilia.
All of this is inherently wrong. Circumcision, the refusal to eat pork, and most other things in the religion fall into a few categories. Disease prevention before medicine existed, taking care of livestock, keeping the rule of contextual law, and respecting God. Lets talk diseases. You may have never studied medicine or even seen Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, or Herpes, but back then these were immediate threats to human life. Any major infection was almost certainly fatal. Circumcision, while painful, greatly decreased the chances for ultimately life ending, long term illnesses. Pork, as well, was difficult to process, carried multitudinous diseases and was capable of causing excruciating pain and death. If not cooked properly, a single pig could have killed an entire family. Please understand past your own ignorance that there are reasons that these laws existed.
Assuming you are Israeli: That's interesting to hear, from a Russian point of view. Our perception of Jewish people is that they're uniquely cooperative among each other- at least from the standpoint of culture, not religion. In what might be anti-Semitism, or truth (enlighten me?), we view Jews as helping each other monetarily, socially and emotionally, more so than even "Gentiles" would their own close friends or family. I assume that cohesion would make sense from a historical point of view- in the Canaan desert 2,000 years ago, you either stick together or you die. Again, it's fascinating to hear that Rabbis are seen as unreliable, (to an outsider looking in) when they, the glue that holds together Jewish- or rather Israeli culture (I have no doubts that many Jews go less because they actually believe in G-d and more because it's their culture, but again, you'll have to tell me what is really the case)- is nothing more than a fair-weather friend.
The Jewish people were mostly nomadic since the exit of Israel. Conflict drove a major force in the dislocation of many cultures; be it with the land, with other tribes, groups and countries, or just among themselves. When any culture of people takes upon themselves an ally whose mannerisms are strange, foreign - and even a little bit frightening, it can be difficult to adjust. For both the displaced, and those in need of help in their own country. The Israeli refugees of the last millennia were met with distrust, and were forced to be self reliant to simply survive. The Yiddish language is a great example of this, and is one of a hundred from a dozen cultures who the Jews were just one case of. Other cultures have been forced into this scenario: the Romani of India, Africans in literally any European country, and even the Irishmen in America. The Torah (read: Old Testament after the Roman Catholic Apocrypha), has companion pieces of literature, rhetoric, and doctrine. In one, a Rabbi admitted: "G-D Gave us our minds, and let's use them." So when we, they, find a home, they work to improve their lives. We just wanted to fit, to be loved and to form a community. That's what everybody does- no matter what language and words they use. That's what a church does; a mosque, the civic center, the city hall, the library, a convention. A gathering of like-minded people is no different by case than any other. We are no more than people looking for a home, for acceptance, and to be useful. And what is more human than desperately searching for a place to belong in a foreign world? Many people can understand, especially in the troubled world we live in. We are no less patriotic, we harbor no less love for our home, our community, our children, our friends. We stand by the call to arms, we maintain the streets of the countries where we live, serve food, do taxes, and paint murals of the people in our home towns. People are people and do people things...
Watching you dissect this film is very therapeutic. The funny thing is when people watch movie there is also a certain mood or emotion that is also within the idea of therapeutic. Thank You for this video and it relates to almost all of us at some point in our lives.
I don't know if you have seen "There will be blood" by Paul Thomas Andersen. A freakin masterpiece according to me, the visuals are amazing and the music by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is mindblowing. A story about corruption, greed during the rush for oil in America. I think it would fit the Understanding Art- segment wonderfully. Keep up the good work, I always look forward to your videos :)
Thanks, nerdwriter! Great ending, too. Reminds me of my favourite moment in Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch where the main character is reading a manuscript he hunted down and the book seems to be building up to some truth he was after, only to finally resolve with page turn and solitary sentence: "Everything depends upon...(a sentence scratched out)."
The movie is full of schrodinger cats. Did the student really bribe him? He was both married and separated at the same time. It was his house but he didn't live there. I feel it was more about the uncertainty of life. The ending meaning the only true certainty is death.
Actually the movie is ONLY about Schrodinger cat !!
This movie is one of a very few movies that I watched more than 3 times
The opening scene is the key to understand the entire movie.
The old man is both alive and dead
The brother is both crazy and smart
The kid is both hard working and corrupted
His wife is both a fine woman and a nasty one
He himself is a believer and a doubter
His kid at the last scene is both alive and dead
There is God and there is no God
That's the message of the entire movie.
For sure there are many messages and hundreds of interpretations.
I'm reading a lot of intuitions I didn't notice although I saw this movie at least 4 times!
This is what I see as the key of the story: Rabbi Marshak!!!He doesn't talk to Larry(don't know way) but he do talk to his son Danny and tell him the ultimate truth that perhaps his father need more.
The Marshak/Danny dialogue goes:
Rabbi Marshak:
When the truth is found. To be lies...And all the hope..Within you dies.....Then what?
Grace Slick. Marty Balin. Paul Kanta. Jorma...
Danny Gopnik:
Kaukonen.
Rabbi Marshak:
...something. These are the membas of the Airplane. Interesting. Here.......Be a good boy!
Now,he ask a question that has a lot to do with his father situation,when all the hope within you dies than what??
And than surprisingly start to talk about the Airplane which has nothing to do whit the heavy question he just put on the table.
And then come the occult answer of a real Master: When all the hope within you dies,becouse too many aspects of your life are going concurrently bad,than what?Answer: Be a good boy!!!
And this is exactly what Larry,in the very following scene,does not.
He is changing his student vote becouse he really needs money and must be exhausted about life treating him so badly!
So just for once in his whole life he's not a serius man and "life/nature/god/universe/karma"instantly reacts.
The telephone is now ringing and the doctor has very bad news...very bad!
So remember....Be a good boy!
But wasn’t Schrödinger’s cat an example used to show how absurd it is to not have a concrete answer bc the cat can’t be both alive and dead. The answer wasn’t up to the observer of the box that the cat was in. The answer was in the box
Johana Marin absolutely agree and i think that’s the awful thing which the movie tries to convey via larry. there always IS a concrete answer but so often we just can’t know it. that might be tolerable in small doses or infrequently throughout life, but poor larry is feeling it run amok in his own
@@lorenzoguarda4059 nice try, but I'm afraid it's not entirely true.
"And than surprisingly start to talk about the Airplane which has nothing to do whit the heavy question he just put on the table."
The question is from the lyrics of the song.
The Airplane is the band Jefferson Airplane and the question he raises are literally the lyrics of their song "Somebody to love" that plays several times in the movie "When the truth is found to be lies and all the *joy* within you dies... don't you want somebody to love?".
The only word that was changed was joy because the Rabbi says "hope" instead of joy:
The phone call revealing his illness at the end cannot be a punishment for his decision to take the bribe because it's just the result of the x-rays he takes at the very beginning of the movie. If it was a punishment, then the punishment would have been pre-determined.
This movie slaps when you're going through an existential crisis
I actually started to cry at the end of the movie...
With all movies I expected a Happy ever after. As it welled up as everything was falling into place, and it ended! I was pissed, hurt, bewildered! And I immediately thought of my own life. All the questions all the agony, why? Why me?! So bizarre, it gave me the answers. In short shit happens, get over it! Loved it
This movie reminds me of American Beauty.
well that's true for every coen brothers movie isn't it
I watched it too early i think. Gonna rewatch it soon. Coz its time
A Serious Man was the Cohen Bros most underrated film.
It's a masterpiece
The Hudsucker proxy was . The ballot is headed to a hidden gem status though . "Panshot! "
Also the Coen brothers'
You say as it has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes lmao
@@seaotter4439 I think he meant under talked about it
What a way to close the video.
Hats off once again.
Creative
Very clever.
@@stevenstewart6349 But is it convincing?
@@haveaseatplease what is convincing?
@@haveaseatpleasemfkr! Nice one 👌🏻
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.
Once you label me you negate me.
I understood and agreed with the first two but don't really understand the last.
Dick Van Patten?
@@bmk6669ooo Soren Kierkegaard
@@aarond9563 When we label/judge someone, we close the door to truly learning and understanding who they are on a deeper level.
@@slangsd Oh okay. But what happens if that label is accurate. Or the purpose of the label is not to negate, but other reasons. Maybe the label is a way to communicate and better understand what would otherwise be an esoteric or inaccessible explanation? What if the label is being used to break down barriers and actually aid in truly learning and understanding rather than the opposite. I think labels and genres have bad reputations based on the way they've been used, but just like denotation and connotation it doesn't have to be that way.
I remember the times when I had to wait weeks to get a video from Nerdwriter. What a time to be alive.
PHF28 Hahahaha!
Nerdwriter1 How do you even manage pushing these out every Wednesday?
Cosmo Guerini his Patreon!
I fucking love this movie. It had such a quiet run in theaters compared to other Cohen Brothers films, but it's aged so well. It has a similar feeling to Fargo, in that, on first viewing, the movie is terribly dark and bleak. On repeat viewings, though, it becomes _hilarious_ .
+wolfumz cathartic
This is one of the most beautiful films I have seen. The cinematography is amazing. The scene where they are at the Synagogue and the camera focuses on the boy and everything is out of focus is genius.
Nerdwriter1, I really enjoyed your perspective on this film. I'm not nearly as astute as you in regards to film but I had believed that the intro was in fact the parable version of Schrödinger's cat. The act of stabbing the Dybbuk(?) was in fact the act of looking into the box and observing the result. My belief was that this raises the importance of Schrödinger's cat in regards to the rest of the film. No one saw the student leave the money on the desk and the twister at the end only became real to Danny when he looked up and observed it's forming presence. What does all this mean? Fuck if I know. This has hung me up for years. Your version is better worded and makes a lot of sense but I can't get over the opening parable and Schrödinger's cat myself. Fun watch though and thank you. :)
Are we looking into Schrödinger's box to observe Larry? Are we as a viewer solidifying Larry's fate as observers? That makes sense to me.
Holy cow that's a great interpretation. Thanks man.
nice man, that's a really clean observation
As like a film, the longer we sit in observation, the inevitability arises that something will likely happen, eventually.
M. Ray from a religious perspective (i thought the film was full of these interesting interpretations) I believed that the first chapter was about evil (=evil in humans, whether greed, hate, disbelief, dishonesty. a whole palette. It doesn't matter what the individual "sin" is but rather just a general term for "Bad" or "Evil") and a question about whether the Rabbi was an "evil" person who the good men and women drove out and thus 'Good riddance = good that the devil/evil has been cast out from among them.
On the other hand one could believe that the lady was instead "evil" here and stabbing an innocent man who might be telling the truth to them and that the woman said "Good riddance" in a manner that is often used to address larger issues than we humans face ("Just get rid of them, don't think about them, don't talk about them." Good Riddance)
Also the literal stabbing is something that is against all christian, judaist and many other religious doctrines i think - "Thou shalt not kill" And so forth.
- Again going back to the first part here, it could just as well be symbolism that the woman was trying to protect evil from entering their household and hearts by not submitting to believe his lies, even if they were going to face punishment after when the Rabbi was going to tell everyone that they killed him, if they were infact lies that the rabbi was telling.
As with all of your Understanding Art Film videos, I see the video in my subscriptions, open it, pause it, watch the movie elsewhere, and then return to your video. It's always so rewarding! This was absolutely superb. Thank you!
Nora Doorley That's a great way to do it. It's great when the film is fresh in yr mind.
This my favorite movie . It's brillant and meaningful in the way it deals with real life issues. I love the main character.
There are two parts of the movie.
The question: Schrodinger cat, the uncertainty of it all.
Indeed, the more we look for the answer, the less happy we become. There are two examples in this movie - you either forget and let go, either you continue asking the same question and loose your mind and your life. First example is Goy, who tried to crack the mystery of the message engraved on the backside of the patient's teeth, which made him loose sleep and appetite until he eventually let it go and continued living. The second example is Larry's brother, Arthur, who spent his whole trying to crack the Universe, which left him all alone, sick and with nothing to his name, simply because he didn't want to quit. But both of this examples are of what already happened.
Now we are observing Larry, as all the misery falls upon him. Naturally first reaction is to ask why? So he goes and seeks help from the Rabbis. The first and the youngest (least experienced) says it's all about perspective. The middle aged one says - who cares? just keep living.
The eldest one and the wisest answers this question through Larry's kid, simply put - just "be a good boy" - keep living and act righteous, regardless of what's going on.
No matter the reason, what important is your actions - stop asking questions and don't give in, be a good boy. Following Marshak wisdom, the woman in the very first scene shouldn't have stabbed the old man, who helped her husband in a difficult situation, even if he is an evil demon. What if he's not? Then she's the one who killed him and in fact evil. In Larry's situation, he took every challenge well and stayed a good guy no matter what was happening to him, but changing the grade and taking the bribe made him a hypocrite. Even though everything just started going well - his wife is back, he got the job he wanted, changing the grade was an act of giving in.
All actions have consequences, we are the ones who's going to bring bad or good on ourselves.
PS.
Another thing that made me think about the whole looking for an answer (second chance, call it what you want) thing:
It's just like trying to get your music player back. You could pick the lock of the teacher's drawer and still not be able to find it. But in the end it will come to you (When Marshak gives it back). One thing tho, don't repeat the same mistake twice, or you might summon the tornado.
Man you explained it very well
I found more than answer
I really enjoyed your interpretation!
this is genius
There is no god? I've always thought that god existed within this film, because of the ending. Larry only does what's right and gets shit, and when he finally says fuck it and do something wrong (changing the student's grade) he suffers the consequences: The world's end, hence god's retribution. I thought that only added to the frustration the movie wanted to convey, how unfair things can be and still you don't understand why...
Lucas Garibaldi I agree with what he said. I didn't see it the way u saw it, but i guess that's the point of uncertainty of randomness in life, at the end of the day it's about perspective. How u interpret it :)
Lucas Garibaldi I think that's part of the point, What happens to Larry can't really be traced to some cosmic score keeper and thus we shouldn't spend so much time trying to keep score ourselves. If he always did the right thing and bad things happened, and then he changed and bad things still happened it's not really anything conclusive.
+Lucas Garibaldi I quite agree. If this movie had an atheist core, I do not understand the parallel to Job, especially consider the tornado at the end:
"Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding." (Job 38:1-4)
***** Actually I didn't expressed myself very well. What I meant to say was: Bad things were always happening to him and he endured them, but when he finally says fuck it, he got it the worst way possible. There was always a force making his life miserable to a point where he couldn't take it anymore and when he tried to defy it, his life was ruined beyond repair.
***** Anyway this movie only proves one thing: The Coens aren't humans...
A life lesson I learned from Coen brothers' films is when everything looks like it's going to shit, look for a way up not a way out.
I really enjoyed your analysis of this movie.
zipzapzippitydo I really enjoyed your comment on my analysis.
You're breaking the Matrix maaan!
You might think that religion is not relevant today. it is more relevant than ever. People who turn away from it are depressed by the media that makes you feel inadequate for not being rich and famous. I am Jewish and the Chabad movement is becoming more popular than ever. People are hungry for spirituality. Secularism is a religion too and not a very happy one.
@@Nerdwriter1 You said anyone could easily figure out that there is no God.....was that suppose to be a joke or were you serious? (Both are laughable)
Wonderful analysis and video. So many people misinterpret (or just don't get) the Coen Brothers films and none more so than this film, along with The Man Who Wasn't There and Barton Fink.
It's such a subtle and brilliant film and there's so much going on in it and this video nicely opens a window onto that inner meaning. I've often said that if you want to know the "point" behind a Coen Brothers film, look at the last few moments, when they usually sum it up.
In this film, as Larry Gopnick finally thinks his fortunes are turning around gets the call from his doctor that bodes worse times ahead, his son watches a tornado approaching, representing the impending suffering he and his family are going to go through. And, just as it fades to black, we hear the lyrics of the Jefferson Airplane song he is listening to and it all makes sense: life is inscrutable and meaning is unknowable and you are destined to suffer, so YOU'D BETTER FIND SOMEBODY TO LOVE.
You turn your own atheism and idiosyncratic understanding of "stupidity" (absurdity ?) into a conclusion for a film that is explicitly a 1950s version of the *Book of Job*. You noticed every detail but missed the most obvious. Somehow like Bergman, you equate the trial of silence to loss of faith. For a religious person, it can be the opposite and that's more likely the Judaic perspective of this film. But its nebulosity, as you described it, is more than enough to make it completely ambiguous and a mirror for own reflections, so who knows?
+Chocs des glaçons Highly underrated comment. Please make top comment so more people can see this.
+Slvn Baker a few fancy words and you think it's a good comment.
+Virgil Grissom Very sorry. Rephrased for reassessment: _You turn your own atheism and your very personal understanding of "stupidity" (comic meaninglessness?) into a conclusion for a film that states of itself it is the Book of Job story set in the 1950s. You took up many small things but missed the important bit. Somehow, like one impossibly fancy and now dead Swedish director known in the more pedantic circles for his "Trilogy of Silence", you think facing a big silence automatically means losing what you believe in. If you're religious you could react very differently, like Jews who would see this movie. But because this movie is hazy and mysterious, as Nerdwriter1 says, its meaning is never too clear and perhaps what you see in it is only your own imagination and thinking, so who knows?_
Chocs des glaçons any sex scenes in it?
+Chocs des glaçons So NerdWriter is simply interpreting his projection?
Sweet ending man =)
Timm Reinefeld Thanks.
+Nerdwriter1 Hey best review i've seen so far. Just watched and loved this movie. I noticed though that in the three rabbis' advice he gets, you pointed out how the third represented the divine silence in the face of the big questions. The scene immediately after is his brother breaking down and blaming Hashem, and Larry consoles him saying, "it's not fair to blame Hashem... sometimes you have to help yourself". This is the third advice.
The scene ends with Larry giving his brother a hug. He found somebody to love.
Nerdwriter1 a very Wallacean ending
My cousin is in this movie. Just felt like I had to say that
as an extra or did he have a role?
he was Danny's Reefer Buddy.
@@MayaJust3sticks that is awesome!😀
My buddy is in this movie too. The bar mitzvah scene in the background
you are not though
About the atheist aspect:
The Coen Bros leave that question open as well. Is the tornado a retribution for Larry's sins? maybe... maybe not. The point of the film is that there is nothing curtain, nothing definitive: not the identity of the stabbed stranger, not anyone's morality and not the life of schrodinger's cat. We have to live with the knowledge that we never really know anything.
If anything wouldn't the phone call about the x-rays (implied cancer/death) be the punishment, as it literally follows as soon as he changes the grade?
I don't think God's punishment is inferred here. Both the tornado and the phone call represent death and absurdity, I think. As soon as the 'psuedo-conflicts' are 'resolved', for both the dad and the son, death quickly follows, and all of their previous efforts and anxieties are reduced to triviality.
Good view. Good points
For those of us that believe in Elohim.
In the Old Testament (Jew)
When Satan tell God (more or less)
Job loves you because you blessed him...what happens when you take everything from him? Can he stand up and be a man and not lose Faith. Sometimes God breaks you down to build you up...
And sometimes you gotta pay for
Santana's Abraxas!...
@@jayyy689 to me it's "a broken clock showed the correct time" type of moment.
is there a God? there is, and there isn't.
if it's such a rare experience (that consequences actually match the nature of the actions, as if there were a God seeing to it), it could be that the universe is just a broken clock, and the irony of getting the bad news right after compromising one's integrity is another cruel joke of indifferent reality.
there's another little bit of irony in there.
the rabbi tells Larry: "helping others? couldn't hurt".
it sounds like the most trivial, non-controversial piece of advice ever (utterly disappointing Larry, because, d'oh).
then ultimately Larry helps the Korean student pass the year...
Thank you. I'm bad at figuring out meaning and stuff in film, but I like to try. Analyses like this help me out a lot.
I enjoyed this video but the analysis itself feels more personal to Nerdwriter. I'm surprised that there was no mention of the book of Job and feel that the film is much less atheistic than the essay asserts.
I agree-- Job is absolutely the template of the film. From the different friends of Job giving different, unhelpful advice, to the appearance of the whirlwind, from which the voice of God demands "Where were you when I lay the foundations of the earth? in response to Job's attempt to reconcile the existence of God with evil in the world. As for the film being atheist or not, I think it is using biblical idiom to ask universal questions, questions that apply to human existence whether one is a believer or an atheist.
Got to say, when he made that assertion Nerd completely missed the plot. I do not think the movie remotely promoted atheism. It seems more likely a Rorschach test effect of the reviewer. I learned more about him then the movie.
The movie doesn’t “promote”(what a word to use..) atheism. It merely reflects on the meaninglessness of human existence.
I really really like this film, one of the Coen's most underrated. Have you seen Pi (1998)? Darren Aronofsky impressive debut. A very different film, but dealing with similar themes.
asderc1 I have seen Pi. Great flick.
+Nerdwriter1 Do fountain, Darren Aronofsky!!
btw these videos are amazing
Love Pi.
+asderc1 What theme does Pi deals with that is similar to A Serious Man?
+asderc1 I thought the same thing when watching this Vid. Similar themes
For me, this movie was all about hermeneutics, as Nerdwriter said without enclosing it in the word itself. It goes to the point where the discourse of the movie breaks the fourth wall as the own viewer is forced to engage in the hermeneutics of it. I finished the movie thinking of how well sorted is a pragmatic religious man life, and how hard it can be for a serious man to understand it and keep consciensce of it. You can unravel the universe mathematically through Uncertain Principles, Schrodinger Cats' and whatnot, but one can argue that a pragmatic way of life, be it religiously, aesthetically or perhaps philosophical, is the closest we can get today in regards to coping with life.
I somehow feel like I ventured off the movie and gibberished a tad bit.
Fuck yeah! Absolutely adore your Understanding Art Film videos. No Country for Old Men and Fargo would seem like more common choices when talking about the Coens but it's nice to see someone talk about A Serious Man, one of the Coens' lesser known and appreciated films.
The message of the movie stems from an egocentric view -- that people are separate entities, that they are special, different from the rest. That the world is 'out there' and the self is 'in here'. This view makes living unbearable, because the world seems so large, powerful, untameable, while inside, we are just by ourself, weak, 'what can one person do?', 'we're just a cog'. But reality is not that. When we are born, we don't have this egocentric view. We look at the world as not separate from us. We do not think the 'world is out there and 'I' am in here' but rather 'there is just the world' and we are part of it. We are the immense, we are the large, we are everything. When we act, it's because the world acts. But we grow up and are taught that our 'self' is in this tiny body and that's all the self is. Enlightenment is realizing this warped view of reality is wrong and there is no tiny self. Just as the sun shines, clouds breeze by, flowers bloom, trees wave in the wind, we are also part of the world. Not separate. Thus wonderful. But the Coen brothers are rather shallow and have never bothered to tap into an understanding of reality that all beings are born with but have been covered up and needs to be cleared away with a strong leaf-blower. 'A Serious Man' just adds more leaves and dirt to cover up reality.
This movie is a retelling of the book of Job, with some new ideas thrown around.
@Anthony James Bulldis But Larry Gopnik is a righteous man. He has a socially valuable and prestigious job (teaching others), he has a family and property, he's a good god-fearing Jew, he's financially stable, people depend on him, etc. And also, in the story of Job, God appears in a whirlwind... which is exactly the same as how the movie ends...
I think about Job when I watch this movie
@@HammarHeart I like the idea that he can be viewed as a righteous man, but that would have to be from a superficial perspective, right? There is a distinct lack of communication between Larry and his family, other than him asking "What is going on?" or being told to do something by someone else. In contrast, he spends a lot of time tracking down rabbis to talk with them and seems to place a priority on learning the lessons of the masters, be they religious or scientific. Maybe you could say he is god-fearing, but he doesn't seem particularly religious in his perspective, other than when he is at his wit's end.
Interesting point but job at least had God to talk to him Job 38
But are you enjoying Santana's Abraxas!?
It also a film about how Judaism, and indeed religion as a whole, is completely incompatible with the modern world and really has no place outside of tradition anymore.
Truth be told, I saw the movie after I saw your post.
Greetings from Kuwait.
Great video. A Serious Man is my favorite movie, and it is seriously underrated, it passed though theaters very quietly.
"Better questions like whether or not the min..."
My reaction- huh? Hmmm... (Rewind) oh ... Ahhh- hahahahaha- Genius!
That's what I did too!
Please do a case study on the Coen's No Country For Old Men too!
yeah, do that one
oh yes
That wood actually be worthwile (-:
I would still love to see that even if it is from 11 months ago
Yes! That would be really good.
Every once in a while I uncontrollably rewatch this video, most recent was my sixth time over the last 5 years. Out of all the video analyses of film or story I have ever scene, this video is, without a doubt, the best I have ever seen, masterfully crafted. Hats off to Nerwriter. I am even seeing other channels mimic you. Your are the jimi Hendrix of youtube analysis.
"It sounds like you don't know anything! Why even tel me the story?"
Shotana Films Precisely.
+Shotana Films First he should tell you then he shouldn't?
Its been mentioned before, but you missed the very important interpretive piece that "A serious man" is actually a mirror of the book of Job, with three friends replaced by three rabbis, a disease that might kill him, a wife that's tired of him, and a storm at the conclusion. Also if I'm not mistaken this movie was called "The good jew" when it was released in Israel. Might be wrong there. Point is, while this is a very astute interpretation, it misses a big piece of intertextuality that the Koen brothers designed into the movie meaning your interpretation is missing a big piece. Its like missing the mirror built into the big lebowski between the showdown between the big Lebowski and the nihilists, and the moment when Peter cuts off one of the soldier's ears in the gospel. Its THE scene that cements the interpretation of the big Lebowski as the "savior" of our age. The religious aspect is important for understanding the piece of art, as, in the case of both the big lebowski and A serious man, it is the model and inspiration for the film, adapted to meet the koen brothers own needs. Would have liked to hear your thoughts on that subject as well as all the rest.
no one talking about the ridiculously evocative acting performance by Michael Stuhlbarg.
I agree. Michael stuhlbarg was excellent in his movie.
My old friends at synagogue say this movie is really awesome for grasping life in the 1960s in the midwest for Jews.
I didn't DO anything!
inaction is action
Read you comment right when he said it at 1:14 means nothing but was a neat experience .
You should do "The White Ribbon" by Michael Haneke or any other of his films! They are perfect for your "Understanding Art/Film" case studies!
Gojko Dimic Haneke would be great. Going on the list.
Nerdwriter1 Although an episode on Funny Games or The White Ribbon or Cache would be amazing, The Seventh Continent destroyed me the first time I saw it. I don't know whether there's really anything more to analyze in Seventh Continent, and perhaps that's why I bring it up.
Gojko Dimic Haneke is a genius and my favorite director. I would freak out if you did an analysis on one of his films. Take a look at his film "The Seventh Continent" It's broken into three acts. In the first act you never see anyone's faces, just the routines that they complete. Despite the morbid subject I though it was crafted beautifully. It was through my frustration with the depressing subject matter that I read many analysis's after my first viewing.
akhan727 I agree, he is my favorite director too. I think all of his films are worthy of an analysis on this channel. The way they are composed and how they unfold in a subtle and raw way. It's like they are stripped down to their purest and most essential form. I learned a lot by watching his films.
Gojko Dimic Yes, Haneke's white ribbon is great. Although being hard to watch, it is one of the most disturbing pieces about a dysfunctional society and morality. Especially as a german.
I don't think "A Serious Man" necessarily questions the usefulness of religion. I think it questions the use of religion to try to find one single answer. The overall idea of the movie is actually supportive of religion - the idea that we can never really fully understand everything.
In the same way that Oh Brother is The Odyssey, this is The Book Of Job.
I think that's a fair shot. But I'd say that whilst O Brother is explicitly The Odyssey, this film, if it is Job, is far less explicitly so.
Job stuck to his faith and it allowed him to overcome all the terrible things he experienced.
Larry's problem is that he's got nothing to stick to. There is no higher meaning he can look up to.
The relationship between Larry and Mrs Sanski is one of my favorite parts of the film. It well illustrates the relatable feeling of just having no idea how to interpret the situation your in, and the messages given to you. Especially those of a sexual nature when you are lost as to whether you've got the complete wrong end of the stick. Also a good source of laughs.
I'd love to hear your take on Take Shelter.
+rai ZOR I love Mike Shannon, hadn't heard of this - thanks buddy
+rai ZOR Good idea lost in pretentious directing
""You're killing your father, Larry .... !!!"
Says The Dude in The Big Lebowski (another brothers Coen movie). Little Larry is a headstrong adolescent. And he's not very little.
Every single Cohen brothers movie has the same themes and somehow they never run out of interesting ways to tell us their stories. Pretty amazing.
This is one of the best reviews of all time, thank you
this channel is my new every frame a painting.
this channel can't compare to efap
This channel has other stuff going on.
every frame does not conclude stuff unsure, not like here that promoted disbelief in God like he resurrected from death. just lost all my respect for this channel
Your art analysis is amazing. Truly inspirational.
I myself had a bar mitzvah and went through a lot of the same thoughts -- "Why am I reciting something I do not understand" -- and it provides a great metaphor for the whole of this movie, and the Coen's philosophy on existence. Bravo.
This video proves something that I already thought when I saw this movie for the first time: that A Serious Man is one of the Coen's masterpieces!
The whole "there is no god" thing dropped the ball. I don't think this movie is that simple. Hell, the Coen brothers are never that simple.
Especially at the end of the movie, the tornado coming towards his son is heavily implied to be God's wrath and Grace Slick's vocals in his headphones, the voice of God. At least that's the way I interpreted it.
Yeah, that was a massive stretch
They are blood simple.... bloody simple..... simply bloody....
@@nfosse That comment made my day 😂😂😂
Massive Douche I’m not sure god comes in at any point. Larry is searching for something to compel him from the outside both in physics and Judaism. He fails. Danny has no such problems. He does what he wants and is perturbed by violating the rules he is supposed to follow. When he gets to meet the ‘truth’, or divine guidance that Larry is never allowed to meet marshak merely quotes Jefferson airplane and says ‘be a god boy’. Which to me means to advise a sort of nietzshean self assertion along with the somewhat hedonistic implication of choosing the representative hippie song combined with Danny’s character throughout the movie. At the end we get Danny listening to Jefferson airplane and Larry violating his morals (social morals not his own personal) while the implied destruction is coming in. Might be a stretch , but the end where he tries to pay fagle could mean it doesn’t work if you take selfishness as more important than mores, even if you respect them both, it won’t work. But idk how else to interpret the marshak Danny encounter.
My favorite movie of all times.
I've always understood the movie and the ending as metaphors that people tend to focus on the non-essential things - the dilemma with the bribe, his wife, etc. And when the real, unsolvable problem came his way, he suddenly realize, that he had the wrong priorities all this time...
The tragedy of it is that his son behaved the same way. The son was so obsessed with his debt problem, that he was unable to see the real tornado that was coming at him. Just like his father....
But later on he tried to return back that 20 dollar bill and the guy looked back like the tornado is coming, and you should be worried about it instead of 20$ bill
@@sheilakijawani2526 Exactly!
Yup, schrodingers's Cat and the Book of Job - but everyone seems to miss the most important and heartbreaking scene of the movie - the breakdown of Uncle arthur - the formidable Richard Kind - It puts everything in perspective - Life is shit, but there is always a poor soul who suffers worse than I (us)! This is the most nihilistic part of the movie - as we realise that even Job had a good life before the disaster - a lot of people never had a life at all!
A Serious Man has got to be in the top three greatest films of the opening 21st century. I didn't agree with the message, but in true Coen Brothers fashion, they made me think. Bless 'em for it.
I love a film that sticks with you like this. You don’t stop thinking about it after watching it. I always know when I like a film because I’m quiet.
The best review of the film I have come across. But I think there is some more to the prologue. The peasant's wife stabs Groshkover because she thought God had cursed them and sent a demon to their house. The odd part of this sequence is that when her husband says he had met Groshkover, she shows fear in her face immediately. While a sane person would only display disbelief and surprise at hearing about someone they thought was deceased, she reacts with apprehension. She is one of those believers that think demons are out there and that they may haunt her any time, unlike her "rational" husband.
Good point. Her ACTION is directly opposed to Larry's INACTION. She might not have been right, but she DID something.
I loved the ending, how you left the questions up to us as individuals. This is definitely one of my favorite channels.
Man, you could take a family vacation's footage and convince everyone that they were trying to present an alegory of quantum mechanics. Your analysis are just pure poetry. Thank you.
I love your analysis! I have similar view on this film and by the way it's one of my favorites. I've seen it over a 100 times. To me very important is the quotation after the prolog which says "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." and also when Larry says to the second Rabbi "I think the honest answer is I don't know."
Also, "You'd better find somebody to love" -- Grace Slick. "Have Perspective", and "Help the Goy" -- i.e., help others who are not like you
It's interesting that you didn't bring up the Book of Job for which this movie was a modern interpretation of. Love your videos and I look forward to more to come.
I think The Book of Job and Joseph Roth's work is so integral to this film that it should be noted. Especially when giving an interpretation on the story and themes. As opposed to the subjective visual poetry which this piece doesn't seem to focus on.
He didn't bring it up because this video sucks
I actually found that one of my main interpretations of the film (not its intended meaning) was that Larry should be viewing the people around him with much more skepticism and cynicism, rather than assume a cosmic or moral lesson in events that are largely caused by human wrong doing. Of course his illness and the tornado at the end don't fit into that. But I've found this to be a useful principle for real life. I do believe in God, but not a God which directly controls the events of our lives. If there's a problem, look at "what's going on" with skepticism and discernment and try to figure out an intelligent solution, rather than assume God is trying to tell you something. Which is actually a sort of projection of our own psychology
This would extend to distrusting self appointed authorities (such as religious leaders) who try to impose the narrative of their own belief system on events that are complicated, difficult, and require real intelligence and grit to work through.
I'm not a nihilist, but I do embrace radical skepticism as a method.
love that ending
What an absolutely BRILLIANT review and analysis! Thank you for taking the time to do this.
wow, that ending was really good, didn't expect it at all
In junior high school we used to visit our relatives in the middle west. They were conservative protestants and were fine people but, like images on a billboard, I never knew who they were behind their proper personalities, reflective of their religious values.
I think Larry Gopnik is like my mid western relatives except more so because he is almost paralyzed, almost unable to be an independent adult, because he has so internalized the (religious values) requirement to be "a nice Jewish boy".
And you could see all of the adults in this Jewish community as similarly trying to live up to religious values, as with my middle western relatives, not as extreme as Larry but the same pattern.
The kids aren't doing this, at least not when their parents aren't around. Refreshingly, they get into fights and curse and shout at each other. And then there is the WONDERFUL old Rabbi. Never pushing his authority at Danny, in fact letting him take the lead, warmth, supporting Danny's love of the Airplane even admiring their lyrics! and affection with a twinkle in his eye when he says "be a good boy." A human relationship between them which Danny will hence forth always contrast to the peril of turning into "a nice Jewish boy".
So what is the failing of conventional religion? That what, if it were authentic, should awaken us fully, instead, in its counterfeit, turns us into a formula, into a life of emotional limitation admired for its propriety.
The film starts out with a quote by the Rabbinic Sage, Rashi, who says: in all things, seek simplicity. The film takes Schroeder's cat as a framework, because everything in the movie is contradictory yet true. None of the other characters ask the simple but repetitive questions Larry asks, because they all have they're own deeper interpretation, their lives operate on their own wavelength and no one besides Larry can see the plain and superficial truth. But Larry never finds answers. He never finds answers because you need both simple readings and the complex truths, the math and the cat. But the world around him has disconnected the meaning and the metaphor, God from His symbols
One of the best videos from this channel.
Man, I am so into your perspective. Thanks for reviewing what I think of as the Coen brothers most underrated movie. You have taken what were for me vague outlines of feeling and chiselled them into a coherent analysis, amazing! Also just wondering if you are considering approaching Birdman.
One of the interesting things I've found about this film as I've watched it again and again has been the idea of Larry not doing anything being regarded as a negative at a glance. But is it really? Larry's troubles pile up, one on top of another, when he does nothing, but as he continues to take a passive role and simply tries to understand what is happening to him, those troubles also start to fade away. His wife returns to him. He is granted tenure, his son's Barmitzfah is quite successful, his brother's legal problems seem to be improving. It's taking time and it's taking patience, but he is succeeding. Then he sees a quick way out standing right in front of him, and he gives in to temptation, and all his patience has, perhaps, amounted to nothing due to that one act. Would he have received that phone call if he had not changed the grade? Would the tornado have manifested? Would he have come across another means of paying his bills that did not involve giving in to temptation and immorality? Who can say now? But his efforts to simply be a good person seemed to have been paying off before then.
Great perspective!
Nice job with this analysis of one of the Coen's more underrated films. An interpretation of a film about the meaningless of interpretations isn't the easiest task.
I am a new fan of yours. Saw "A Serious Man" half a dozen times over the years and now finally fully get it. Thanks.
I've always found the fact that there is no objective meaning of life more fullfilling than there being one meaning.
Too bad that’s not true lol
@@doritomaster7112 if god exists and you think god gave an objective meaning because it does not involve any human subjectiveness that would be true but there is no reason to believe that god cares to give human life an objective meaning since we dont know any of gods properties
The thing you have said by saying not true is that you have assumed there is an objective meaning and the other person assumed that there is no objective meaning
@@doritomaster7112 you are assuming god cares but the same assumption can be made about god does not care about human life and gave no meaning, because if god is truly infinite and we know no properties of god, why should we assume that god most definitely cared about human life when god could also most definitely not care about human life
@@MrEpic6996 there is no logical reason to assume that (or anything, about God, whose nature is by definition beyond our understanding), and probably that's why it's called "faith" ;)
"credo quia absurdum"
Interesting take on this marvelous film. Michael Stuhlbarg nails the part of Larry Gopnick, as does everyone else in their roles. Richard Kind is a gem. There are no guarantees in life and the maelstrom of ethics, spirituality, facts, and humanity tie into some of the vignettes in Ecclesiastes; a time to live and a time to die, or Matthew where it rains on the just and the unjust. Sometimes it appears our spiritual umbrella has disintegrated, much as it did for Job over the wager of Satan and God, and one goes from rainstorm to rainstorm, on the razor edge of making a choice to carry on or not. The one true thing about a Coen film, you want to watch it over and over because you know you missed something important. I love this film a lot; I love their work. Just my take.
please... please.. please do a video on any of these
There Will Be Blood
Synecdoche, New York
The Master
Funny Games
Her
Shame
Upstream Color
The Tree of Life
The Shining
Enemy
Cache
The Piano Teacher
Magnolia
Anerican Psycho
Amores Perros
Donnie Darko
+ThuggzBunney Did you get through Upstream Color? I tried so hard but couldn't!
+leonardo h Seen it 6 times (: sorry if you didn't enjoy it, experimental films are often polarizing.
Magnolia... not "Mongolia" damn phone ;/
+Given Suman I disagree c:
+ThuggzBunney Try YMS' reviews of Synecdoche, New York and Enemy! Some of my favourite films!
A serious man is my all time favorite movie. Fun to see someone discuss it.
Happypast One of my favorites too.
Nerdwriter1
Also nice how the analysis didn't focus on and stop at "it's the book of job". Religious references aren't interesting in and of themselves. The things you talked about felt more relevant as to why the movie resonates with me.
I absolutely loved this movie and your analysis of it, please keep them coming!!!
Great movie, a lot of people don't like it, and that's a sad thing, because is one of the finest work of the Coen Brothers.
As always mate, a beautiful analysis.
Great ending, and video.
I'd love to see a series like these videos analysing single scenes in movies - the Brooks parole sequence in The Shawshank Redemption, for instance. that scene has so much incredible imagery - most notably, the way a rectangular mirror is used to frame Brooks like a coffin - that I think you could do an entire video like this on just those few minutes of the film.
"music, poems, books, films", what about games? when are you gonna do one of those?
Well done, nerdwriter. You managed to explain the movie without ruining it. Your explanation of the dybuuk scene, and the way you used the antennae scene was genius. I totally get why Ebert refused to explain this movie. I think the Coen bros would be happy with this review. I guess I will be watching more of your stuff Nerdwriter
What's going on?
"A series of unfortunate events"
I loved this movie.
My family are all huge Coen Brothers fans and we all saw this. They all hated it but I loved it absolutely.
Here's a REDDIT link to upvote: bit.ly/1Jr7h5i
+Nerdwriter1 Using social media to encourage upvoting goes against reddit rules fyi. You could get a site-wide ban on your links if the admins hear of it.
+Milithryus Learn the work around:
~ Create sock puppet account for such purposes.
+Nerdwriter1 I have a couple of objections about this analysis, though I mostly agree. The 1st one is the connection between the parable in the beginning and the rest of the film. The character makes a decision (stabbing) without knowing all the info and we are left wondering whether this was a right decision. This ties into the protagonists lack of clarity so I don't think it's entirely nebulous as you put it. Also, I don't think there was a denial of God's existence. The question of God's existence or to find meaning is what is dispelled. If anything, there is an underlying moral, direction and even hint of there being a God or fate. Whenever Danny finally meets with Marshak, we hear the advice Larry so desperately needed, he tells him to be good. Whenever Larry decides to do something not so good by changing the grade, this action brings about a tornado to Danny's school by God or fate. Larry will now find himself with a worse fate than everything that came before, the loss of his son. It's sort of like a remixed story of Job, replacing faith with morality.
Lol, I almost thought the same thing. had to hear it all over again for those statements to ring true.
+Nerdwriter1 spot on regarding torah portion memorization (that made me a chuckle). glad you're doing Nerdwriter full time. wonderful stuff
Great video Nerdwriter, as always. But I think you are missing that this film is a modern retelling of a Bible story in the Book of Job, where man questions God why bad things happens to good people. Read this book and you'll find the exact same story, characters and events as in A Serious Man. I would not say this movie is telling us to stop deceive ourselves with "a god" and a meaning for life, but it actually has a profound religious sensibility and is asking the exact same question as the Book of Job asks. It is not as much as if man is testing God, but God testing this specific man and bringing a greater good for him.
Wonderful analysis. One of the most fascinating, misterious and saddest films I have ever seen.
constantly scraping UA-cam for quality content like this. 10/10!
I really, really liked this film. That said, I'd have been incredibly hard pressed to recall one single event or line of dialogue. I think I need to watch this again.
thats probably on purpose, just take that feeling, that lack of anything spectacular to mean the protagonists life
It's cause the movie cured insomnia
I got goosebumps when you were about reveal the final, definitive question and Larry adjusts the antenna. +100
That ending gave me chills. Can anyone shed light onto what it means? Maybe nerdwriter1 can? If you can, please do, but if not, it’s ok. Searching for the answer isn’t how I wanna live anymore.
@Shrimply Pibbles I'm catching up to this video many years after the fact, but since nobody answered your question, I'll share my take on the ending. To me, the ending illustrated that, for every problem you solve, another one will crop up. You will never get to a point where you have zero problems. And you won't know how the story (life) ends until it actually happens.
Someone else said this. The ending wants to say that the only thing certain is death. Rest everything is uncertain like Schrodinger cat, he was married and unmarried at the same time. Something like that
This has Wittgenstein written all over it. One of the Coen Bros did his thesis on Wittgenstein's later philosophy, which deals with the philosophy of language, math, mind, and psychology, all of which kind of appear as themes or subtexts in some of their movies. This is one of the best adaptations of philosophical thought on film I've ever seen. Kudos on your review though Nerdwriter1! I'm loving this channel.
Thank you for the analysis. It makes me to keep hold tight onto my faith.
+Rosa Stephani hahahaha
SO happy for having discovered your channel. Cheers from Morocco, AWESOME videos !!!!!
Nice ending!! I see what you did there haha...
Darren Adams So clever :)
Darren Adams Hahahaha!
Interesting that the wisest elder Rabbi only helps the youth and leaves Larry to sink or swim. Marshak tells Danny, “when the truth is found to be lies and all the joy within you dies”. What should we do when the world seems to be crumbling around us? Maybe we should tune our antenna to receive Gods messages. Then we can look at the Universe with a new perspective, realize we are all one and help our fellow man. That is the message I received.
Im not sure the movie is necessarily saying that god does not exist. I think it is more questioning the nature of reality and religion.
Michael Stuhlbarg's face on the phone. really moving range of expressions.
Your conclusion is correct, except it only partially applies. The Coen brothers were essentially commenting on the futility of any Jew seeking spiritual explanation or solace from their Rabbis. The Rabbi inculcates students with teachings of a culture that will ultimately ignore them or cast them out should they ever find themselves in trouble.
The Rabbi raises you, teaches you and holds all the keys to your spiritual salvation, but he won't be there for you when you really need him. Judaism offers no answers.
mofomartian big red flags when they like to bite infant penises. And they are so depraved they end up giving the infants herpes. So knowing they have herpes they bite infant penises anyways. So the only conclusions I can draw from that is that they want to normalize pedophilia.
All of this is inherently wrong. Circumcision, the refusal to eat pork, and most other things in the religion fall into a few categories. Disease prevention before medicine existed, taking care of livestock, keeping the rule of contextual law, and respecting God. Lets talk diseases.
You may have never studied medicine or even seen Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, or Herpes, but back then these were immediate threats to human life. Any major infection was almost certainly fatal. Circumcision, while painful, greatly decreased the chances for ultimately life ending, long term illnesses.
Pork, as well, was difficult to process, carried multitudinous diseases and was capable of causing excruciating pain and death. If not cooked properly, a single pig could have killed an entire family. Please understand past your own ignorance that there are reasons that these laws existed.
Assuming you are Israeli:
That's interesting to hear, from a Russian point of view. Our perception of Jewish people is that they're uniquely cooperative among each other- at least from the standpoint of culture, not religion. In what might be anti-Semitism, or truth (enlighten me?), we view Jews as helping each other monetarily, socially and emotionally, more so than even "Gentiles" would their own close friends or family. I assume that cohesion would make sense from a historical point of view- in the Canaan desert 2,000 years ago, you either stick together or you die.
Again, it's fascinating to hear that Rabbis are seen as unreliable, (to an outsider looking in) when they, the glue that holds together Jewish- or rather Israeli culture (I have no doubts that many Jews go less because they actually believe in G-d and more because it's their culture, but again, you'll have to tell me what is really the case)- is nothing more than a fair-weather friend.
The Jewish people were mostly nomadic since the exit of Israel. Conflict drove a major force in the dislocation of many cultures; be it with the land, with other tribes, groups and countries, or just among themselves. When any culture of people takes upon themselves an ally whose mannerisms are strange, foreign - and even a little bit frightening, it can be difficult to adjust. For both the displaced, and those in need of help in their own country. The Israeli refugees of the last millennia were met with distrust, and were forced to be self reliant to simply survive. The Yiddish language is a great example of this, and is one of a hundred from a dozen cultures who the Jews were just one case of.
Other cultures have been forced into this scenario: the Romani of India, Africans in literally any European country, and even the Irishmen in America. The Torah (read: Old Testament after the Roman Catholic Apocrypha), has companion pieces of literature, rhetoric, and doctrine. In one, a Rabbi admitted: "G-D Gave us our minds, and let's use them." So when we, they, find a home, they work to improve their lives. We just wanted to fit, to be loved and to form a community. That's what everybody does- no matter what language and words they use. That's what a church does; a mosque, the civic center, the city hall, the library, a convention. A gathering of like-minded people is no different by case than any other.
We are no more than people looking for a home, for acceptance, and to be useful. And what is more human than desperately searching for a place to belong in a foreign world? Many people can understand, especially in the troubled world we live in.
We are no less patriotic, we harbor no less love for our home, our community, our children, our friends. We stand by the call to arms, we maintain the streets of the countries where we live, serve food, do taxes, and paint murals of the people in our home towns. People are people and do people things...
Every religion offers some answers. Too bad they are all artificial.
Watching you dissect this film is very therapeutic. The funny thing is when people watch movie there is also a certain mood or emotion that is also within the idea of therapeutic. Thank You for this video and it relates to almost all of us at some point in our lives.
It's a poetic masterpeice about "uncertainty" from begining to the end, How could you miss it ? what's going on?
Death is the only certainty in life
@@ruly8153 paradoxically nobody will ever know that.
I don't know if you have seen "There will be blood" by Paul Thomas Andersen. A freakin masterpiece according to me, the visuals are amazing and the music by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead) is mindblowing. A story about corruption, greed during the rush for oil in America. I think it would fit the Understanding Art- segment wonderfully.
Keep up the good work, I always look forward to your videos :)
Hey man, yo should do "Synecdoche, New York" by Charlie Kaufman. It'd be really, really great.
Thanks, nerdwriter! Great ending, too. Reminds me of my favourite moment in Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch where the main character is reading a manuscript he hunted down and the book seems to be building up to some truth he was after, only to finally resolve with page turn and solitary sentence: "Everything depends upon...(a sentence scratched out)."