Larry Gopnik is a loser.

Am I supposed to feel sorry for him?  Maybe.  Do I?  Not at all. This is the issue I had with A Serious Man, the latest ‘masterpiece’ from the infallible Coen Brothers.  It’s a story about a Jewish mathematician who has his life unravel in front of his eyes through a chain of events, ignited by his wife’s desire for a divorce.

Gopnik is bossed around by nearly everyone he encounters, and he does little, if anything, to try and stop them. Not only that, but he questions whether he’s supposed to complain or not. This is just not a character you can feel sorry for, nor one that you can cheer for.

By the end of the film, I was left wondering, who am I supposed to agree with?  Larry’s pot obsessed son? His daughter and her quest to endlessly wash her hair? The creepy and childish Uncle Arthur (played by the great Richard Kind)? I couldn’t connect with any of them.  Actually I really disliked them all. After all, there really was nothing to like about them.

This film felt like it was a passion project for the Coen brothers as it was quite a departure from their normally engaging story lines. Was it driven by past personal experiences of the Coens?  Was their dad a big, unloveable loser?  Did they smoke pot in the bathroom at school? Who knows, although it felt like a script that woudl have been very close to their own experiences.

While the film’s pacing was incredibly slow, there is no doubt you are in the 1960′s.  The set design, clothing and props reeked of the swinging decade.

It’s just hard to recommend this to film to anyone but the most diehard Coen Brothers fan. I am very open to unique filming styles, touchy plot issues, and nearly anything else, but I just could not connect with anyone in this film in order to develop a point of view.

As for dark comedy, there are definitely moments where you may chuckle under your breath, but you’ll immediately wonder if you should be or not. If you are as big of Coen Brothers fan as I am, do yourself a favour and submit your own opinion.

Synopsis : A departure from the normally engaging and creative writing/directing style of the Coen brothers. Very slow pacing, very unlovable characters and questionable focus make for a film that is tough to watch. If you can relate to any of the situations or characters, you will definitely take more away from it.