A Serious Man - Renegade Cut
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- Опубліковано 5 кві 2016
- An analysis of A Serious Man. Support Renegade Cut Media through Patreon. / renegadecut
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this film is the reason why I never judge a Coen brothers film on one viewing. this is my favorite of theirs.
It just might be their best although it seemed to fall among their “minor” works when released
Every Coen Bros film u watched for the first time felt middling and boring, but for some reason, upon second, third, etc viewings I gain a lot of appreciation for. The Big Lebowski was my first, which I thought was really boring and confusing, but now it's one of my favorite movies of all time. They have a talent for weaving a narrative with lots of tiny details
"The teeth? We don't know.
A sign from Hashem? We don't know.
Helping others? Couldn't hurt."
A & F are certainty. C is doubt. The message is learn to act w certainty when in doubt
the tornado warning is announced after Danny starts listening to music in class. the rabbi warned him.
😂
Hot rails to hell!
Rewatched last night and picked up that for the entire film Larry is in a "superposition" (like Schroedinger's Cat) of accepting/rejecting the bribe. He doesn't exactly accept it, but he fails to either return it or report it, despite opportunities to do both. The money just sits in his desk, neither accepted nor rejected, like the cat in the box. When he says repeatedly "I haven't done anything!" I now can't help but read that as his failing to take definitive action to reject the bribe. And of course the moment he does accept it he is punished even more brutally.
The punishment is still way out of proportion though.
"A Serious Man Part 2: No More Mr. Mazel Tov"
After the death of his son and learning that he has only months to live, Larry goes on a homicidal rampage, starting with his wife and her boyfriend!
Rated PG
Did she get a new boyfriend when Sy Ableman died?
No, because it would be like falling down
@@grayforester no I don't think so. I believe we were even supposed to think that after the relatively happy bar mitzvah their marriage could recuperate, or atleast there split would be peaceful.
@@grayforester Sy became the second coming, he was quite able : ).
One important thing to note in regards to the Job interpretation is that Job is visited by three incredibly unhelpful friends who ask what he did to deserve the tragedy that befell him instead of, you know, trying to help him. There's definitely echoes of that in Larry visiting the three rabbis. I'd have to watch it again and reread Job again and see if there are any specific echoes to what the three friends say versus what the rabbis say. Also I would argue Job doesn't really imply all righteous people are prosperous and everyone who suffers misfortune deserves it - the three "friends" are considered rather crappy for assuming so but maybe that's just my interpretation of it.
The problem of suffering is easily the biggest challenge of my faith and I've spent a lot of times asking myself why bad things happen to good people. I really like what someone said about it. "Pray that you never stop asking why, even more that you never become comfortable with bad things happening to good people. Because the moment you stop questioning, the moment you think you understand why such things happen, is the moment you stop caring and stop trying to help." In the light of that, looking at what the rabbis say makes even more sense - they've either stopped asking why all together or stopped caring about the answer, and therefore stopped caring about actually trying to help this poor guy.
I like what's been said in the comments about the film also having echoes of the Book of Eccliastes ("All of this is meaningless") and also real-world cultural changes happening during the time of the film (I don't think the fact it's a period piece is a coincidence at all). It's nice when there's a film with several different interpretations and they all work.
This film gets better and better on each viewing. A Masterpiece!
Why is it everyone forgets God's second discourse in Job where He specifically tells Job to ask questions and challenge God?
Tonight I was cruising Netflix looking for something to watch. I was in the mood for a Coen Brothersesque film. I crossed over No Country For Old Men because I'd already seen it. I came upon this one... watched it...and loved it more and more throughout the entire movie. Of course... I didn't notice until the end that it was in fact, made by the Coen Brothers.
The actor who plays Larry resembles Joaquin Phoenix somewhat.
YES TO YOUR PROFILE PIC
yes I thought he was Joaquin lol
Bad things happen to "good people" because there is no such thing as a good person. Also, a major theme in A Serious Man is Larry being punished for his inaction and inability to assert himself.
Bad things happen to good people because there's no magic man in the sky keeping score of our actions and dishing out punishments and rewards.
Most underrated Coen brothers movie for sure!!! I definitely understand why - you really can't understand a lot of it unless you grew up Jewish - but regardless this movie is actually amazing. Hilarious and thought provoking and gets better every watch.
You are the top notch of film critics, keep yourself humble, truly great film reviews, thank you for your work!
completely misjudged that movie for a long time considered it pointless. But your analysis made me see the movie for what it is. I probably shouldnt have watched that movie at such a young age where the themes it questioned didnt really cross my mind in such depth. thank you for allowing me to see it with new eyes, you are really good at what you do.
Great analisys, I love this film and the work of the Coen Brothers in general. Some points that you explained I already got when I saw the movie, but others I couldn't perceive. Nice work!
This film was shown to me by my amazing volunteer teacher during my year abroad in Israel. It opened up my eyes to how we encode ideas into art!
this movie is crazy for me... my family is jewish and is from Minneapolis. my grandparents went to the synagogue shown in the film, they also went to the Talmud torah (Hebrew school) that the son went to in the movie, as did my parents, and I. Its a very surreal movie on its own, but being very familiar with the real life location, community, and culture of the characters is doubly so.
One of my favourite films. Such a big fan of your videos.
he did ask russel krause if he had any issues with his teeth.
Doesn't he smoke weed with his hot neighbor or am I thinking of another movie?
fantastic analysis! again, you blew me away leon
This movie is AMAZING.
14:38
"That's uhh, that's chaos theory."
I think I shall watch the movie again after this analysis. I didn't like it when I first saw it because I was expecting a traditional comedy (this was before I knew who the Coen brothers where). But now I am intrigued considering that the book of Job connections were so obvious that I couldn't believe that I didn't catch them on my first viewing. This is yet another great analysis Leon.
Brilliant analysis as always!!!
it's my favorite coen brothers movie!
11:04 fun fact, that's one of my college German professors
Huh. Righteously fits his roll. I only wonder why a professor would play a minor character in a movie.
My preferred reading: You cannot understand the universe, metaphysically speaking, and there is no universal justice or system of punishment. Sometimes, things just happen, and all you can do is hope you're doing good.
I just watched the film prior to watching this. I liked it, but I didn't understand why. This puts it into perspective.
Best analysis of this movie ever. Congrats
great film. excellent interpretation.
To comment on the spiritual aspect a bit more, the non-fundamentalist segments of religion actually give the whole math/fable combination even further depth.
Not only are the stories in those books are also illustrative of the behavior that should be considered in the more literal sections of these books.
Like in the movie, it's not enough to just understand the stories, as there is a lot of work going into exegesis, the study of religious text interpretation, also known as Pardes and Tafsir in Judaism and Islam respectively, the stories are not enough on their own, they have to be taken into context and explained with both historical and literary rationalization.
Likewise, it's not enough to understand the dead cat to be good at physics, you must also understand the math behind it.
an interesting read but not how i interpreted it. I saw it more as an absurdist story; each character somewhat gifted in ways of understanding the world, but none of them spared from the indifference of reality. Larry as a talented physicist, befalls some terminal illness. Arthur is a maths prodigy, persecuted for his alternative lifestyle. Sy ableman is religiously-speaking a serious man, but suffers an accidental death. Larry's son is perhaps a nihilist, not caring about much other than getting high and watching F Troop, put at risk of being hit by a tornado. Each search for meaning ultimately fruitless in a meaningless world.
That actually has some echoes of the Book of Ecclesiastes.
good analysis, keep them coming! subscribed
It’s a stellar film but very dense and borderline absurd, like Barton Fink but without the conflagration and the shotgun. This one is their most ambiguous film from start to finish but placing it side-by-side with the Book of Job makes it easier to understand but no less stellar. It embodies the full circle nature of Inside Llewyn Davis in a more obscure, subtle fashion. We don’t truly know if there is connective tissue to the main narrative from the initial setup and we don’t exactly know if there is justified connection to the ending from father to son. We can infer all we want, but what exactly is being implied. Is it just a nonsensical fever dream all in all. Is it not? Does it even matter?
10/10
Just look at that parking lot 😀
I didn’t see it until now, but I see a parallel between No Country For Old Men and A Serious Man. I’ll have to rewatch both to be sure, but it seems clear to me now that Larry doesn’t realize just how much he is living in contradiction with himself.
As a physics professor, he is constantly putting forth that as far as the understanding the universe is concerned, things are permanently uncertain. This is the direct opposite of what could be found in the direct belief of what is in the Torah - absolute certainty.
So when calamity comes, he has nothing to resort to in his precious science. He comes up short even when he turns towards religion because his mindset is deeply ingrained in scientific thinking.
Because of his own nature, and it isn’t clear how much choice he has in this, he cannot see beyond the laws of science. The nature of his curse stems from his comportment towards the universe, and so is oddly fitting, even if tragic.
Compare this to the shop owner who married into the gas station and is asked to “call” the coin flipped by Sigur. He’s been putting it up his whole life and didn’t even know it.
Both characters suffer from the blindness that comes with the narrowness of focus of everyday life.
It isn’t quite clear that we deserve the fates given to us, but there is an odd justice in the ways the fate is distributed, even if from the angle we’re looking at the world we can’t see it
Book of Job. Spot on
but who is the serious man? i'd say larry is more serious because he's asking bigger questions. everyone else has given up and is just distracting themselves.
I didn't much like the film before this analysis. Thank you.
A very insightful review of a fine film. I also believe that the Coen brother's Fargo covers some of this philosophical ground (why bad things happen to good people) though in a less direct manner.
Why? For a little bit o' money.
I enjoyed your analysis of this fine film. You take it seriously and you deal fairly with the various theological (and non-theological) interpretations that are possible.I don't agree, however, with your assessment of Job as a book that "tells us not to ask questions and not to expect answers." Such an interpretation of Job is quite common. But it is errant. The majority of Job's chapters are preoccupied with Job's questions. His friends attempt to silence his questions but they are unsuccessful. Finally Job gets what he's been hoping for, and G-d himself answers Job. Yes, G-d does not give Job the answer that the reader knows (Job's misfortunes are the result of a bet with Satan, for the purpose of testing Job) but Job is nevertheless satisfied with the particular answer that G-d gives him ("I'm the Creator and you're not").Many people do not like the personalized answer that Job receives from the Creator (even though Job himself doesn't appear to mind it). Nor do they like the implication that bad things happen to us, sometimes catastrophic things, as part of "test of faith." But to say that the upshot of the Book of Job is Don't Ask Questions and Don't Expect Answers is to misrepresent that actual message of this remarkable reflection on that eternal question: Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
not sure if this is the right place to suggest a title or not but I wanted to suggest doing an analysis on Repo Man(Cox)
Jackass by beck! I know this series is all about movies, but i also love every song he uses in these videos! Keep up the quality content
„...humanity judging god for a change“ = malphi-what? Someone please type that word for that at 10:51 for I cannot find it. Thx
"Maltheistic"
Turn on the captions. It's right there.
Once again, a great analysis for a great movie! Keep'em coming!!!!
And by the way, just wanted to let you know that you had fans in France (and i'm one of them, of course...). Too bad you don't speak our language, I would have loved to have your opinion on my videos.
Anyway, good job Leon!
Well, I can't wait to hear you speak some french! It's funny, because when I talk to my friends about your work, I always say that you have a kind of french way to analyze movies. Maybe I'm wrong but most of the american youtubers that I watch focus mainly on the plot, the acting and the cinematography, but not too much on the interpretations, the symbols and the "deepest meanings" of the films. The difference between french and american critics seems really big in that regard. It really stroke me when I started watching Siskel and Ebert's reviews. That's why I like your reviews better, because you go further and deeper in the analysis of a film. So thank you internet for giving me the opportunity to tell it directly to you!
Tout à fait d'accord. :)
Very interesting
Humanity judging God usually doesn't work out well for humanity.
Fantastic movie tho
fantastic analysis! you have followers in India too! I am one of them.
Amazing Butterflies
I'm stunned that anybody, Jew or otherwise, would consider this film antisemitic. The opening fable, just shows that certainty is sometimes more lethal than uncertainty.
I think the book of Job is the most misunderstood book in the bible.
My high school English teacher who went to Catholic school likes to joke that God mellowed out after He had a Son.
Probably the Coens' most underrated film.
The son isn't an innocent. The Rabbi gave him the stolen money back then told him to be a good boy & instead of returning it he attempted to take the easier route & pay off the bully.
Thank you UA-cam
Love your videos but I personally disagree with some of your analysis..
Still glad to see a new video though! (especially for such an overlooked movie!)
Keep it up! :)
(In short I think you may have missed some of the 'absurdist' themes of the film... Instead of interpreting it as 'wrong' to find meaning in the universe/ the 'acts of God,' it may simply be impossible)
The only two possibilities are God is just or God is indifferent? What if there is no god? I think that's a very valid interpretation of this movie, because, you know, there is no god.
Job
I just saw this movie the other day it confused me I had to look it up to understand the movie
Dress for the Book of Job you want, not the Book of Job you have.
+1 frenchy abonnée! :D
i feel the first wrong thing he did was smoke the weed with his neighbor's wife, not change the f to the c-
TH C-
I thought that was the best thing he did in the whole story. Taking advantage of the...new freedoms.
A good commentary although I think the entire film falls along the kinds of lines that Jesus said over and over again in numerous places. In one instance, Jesus affirms that "God causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike." In another place, he cites an accident that happened at the temple where 11 people were crushed by a falling wall. Jesus asks his followers if they believed that those who died were any worse off than anyone else. He asks of a man born blind, "Whose sins caused this? The blind man or his parents?" The idea that Jesus presents over and over is that human beings are always on a search for meaning, even when none is to be found. He teaches that the role of good and evil in our lives are not connected to events of justice or injustice.
Much like Job, the message Jesus portrays time and time again is that good is actually good for its own sake. And that understanding this is crucial to understanding the goodness of God. Failing to understand this leads us all to the same misery and confusion.
David A Joel and Ethan Coen are Jewish.
So is the film.
Jesus is totally irrelevant.
Spike EP Jesus was Jewish. ;)
David A Spike EP with the win (based strictly on cleverness)
Jesus is not seen in any jew text... no Jewish person believes in jesus
I thought the Jewish position was clarified in Futurama 'although we believe that Jesus was a well programmed robot we don't accept him as the one programmed to be our saviour."
SY ABLEMAN?!
There is actually a rare "R" rated version of this film that was never released theatrically. It contains a truly memorable dream sequence involving an epileptic Weasel wearing split crotch panties that happens to cross paths with Larry in a dark alleyway in downtown Poughkeepsie during an Eclipse. The part where they converse telepathically in Esperanto is hilarious. It's included as an extra in the now out of print Criterion DVD. Extremely hard to find (unless, of course, you're on drugs).
My understanding is that this is an exploration of Judaism which is very different experience than a having a 'faith' as Christians know their religions
As a muslim, idk what happened in the movie, but I do know that the jews and us we take stuff called fate and mould it into signs from god. XD
I think this analysis is incomplete . You must discuss the underlying nihilism throughout the film.
There's nihilism?
0:25 0:39 0:56
wait...are you analyzing what the film says? or are you defending Larry for his sins? the tornado does not necessarily kill the son. Perhaps you aren't aware of the book of Job upon which this story is based??
Yeah, obviously I stopped watching when your analysis became a defense of Larry against the judgement of God based on something that clearly didn't happen. Job is key to understanding the amount of suffering Hashem metes out at Larry and his brother. You did reference Job...did you actually connect it to what the Coens are doing with it? But whatever.
Bill Bengle it leaves everything open, referring to schroedingers cat again. He were never filled in on what the news was from the doctor, or what happened to Danny re the tornado
When I was Christian, my church said that following the church would lead you to happiness. But if you suffer now, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. It's quite a convenient catch-all
When god puts your faith to the test
the actual question is if you still want to believe .....
the whole B.S.
it's interesting because, even without god, society condemns people on all A, B, C and D
It's not even society condemning you for these; the punishment is more direct.
A pregnant woman smoking and drinking alcohol will lead to a child that is punished for the actions of an ancestor.
A criminal will, through their actions, cause an innocent family member to be harmed by a victim of the criminal in an act of revenge.
I'm going to do myself a favour and skip watching this movie.