When the truth is found to be lies
And all the joy within you dies
When your names become a film type
And it’s hard to match all the hype
Then you have reached the same paradox that the Coen brothers have found while making A Serious Man. The film is technically tremendous, one of the best directed films that I’ve seen this year. The screenplay is also superb, the audience was entertained for the entire film. But after Fargo and No Country for Old Men, what’s next? This is better than Burn after Reading by far but there is a lingering sensation that something significant is lacking.
It reflects highly on the talent involved when an excellent film feels unsatisfying. After producing one of the top three films of the 1990s and winning a Best Picture Oscar, it seems as if the Coen Brothers do not know what to do next.
A Serious Man follows a checklist:
- a protagonist coming to terms with himself
- odd peripheral characters
- cruel, random twists of fate
- figures of authority revealed to be
The black comedy is well-received but the knockout punchline is not delivered. The formula works but it is still formulaic. This year, the Coens consulted on a film (Leaves of Grass by Tim Blake Nelson, a protégé) that is a better Coen film than their own work.
Audiences still want that mix of uncertainty, drama, comedy, and reality (like everyday life) but their standards are higher. To create a significant work, the Coen brothers must take their films to a higher level. The Big Lebowski set in 1967 this is not. ***