Oscar Big 10 Challenge: "A Serious Man"

Just six more days until the Academy Awards, just three more movie reviews to go in my big 10 challenge. What's left: District 9, The Blind Side, and Inglorious Basterds.

Today: The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man.

A Serious Man is a black comedy about the life of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a professor dealing with his wife's abrupt demand for a divorce, two children too busy with their own problems to care about the family's future, and an unemployable brother who sleeps on his couch. The movie is also largely interwoven with relationships within the Jewish community, as Larry seeks help from several rabbis, who each give him quirky, anecdotal, and often odd pieces of advice. At the very core of it, this movie deals with questions of religion, faith, happiness, morality, mortality, and familial responsibilities.

A Serious Man is definitely this season's most underrated and overlooked movie. Personally, I loved this movie, but it takes a certain humor to appreciate the Coen brothers. If you're a fan of Burn After Reading and The Big Lebowski, then you will most likely like this movie as it operates in the same vein. The comedy in this movie is a subtle undercurrent, and it's never too over the top, although at times it can be pretentious. Sure, some jokes were lost on me because I'm not Jewish, and I don't know much about the Jewish faith, but you don't need to have much of a theological knowledge to watch this movie. I am slightly biased because I love the Coen brothers and black comedies, but this movie is worth a watch.

Michael Stuhlbarg is exceptional and hilarious in this film, and mostly because you're laughing at his poor misfortune. He's definitely another actor who was overlooked this awards season. I really would liked to have seen more recognition for Stuhlbarg, and more recognition for this film, so I'm glad the Academy didn't forget about it.

Final thoughts: This movie won't be winning the best picture Oscar, but if this weren't Avatar's or The Hurt Locker's year, this movie would have a serious chance. It's enjoyable and you'll laugh alot while watching this movie, not a huge laugh out loud kind of laugh, but more of a smart chuckle. This movie may not be for everyone, though. It depends on how much you love a black comedy, and how much you enjoy the Coen brothers' brand of humor and darkness, and how they attempt to balance the two.

My previous best picture reviews:
Avatar
An Education
Precious
The Hurt Locker
Up
Up in the Air