A Serious Man (2009)

Academy Awards, USA 2010

Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Joel Coen Ethan Coen
	Best Writing, Original Screenplay Joel Coen Ethan Coen

Focus Features
Directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)

A Jewish physics professor's life slowly falls apart in suburban Minneapolis in 1967. His wife wants a divorce so she can marry a family friend. He is being blackmailed for a passing grade by a Korean student. An uncle living with him is being pursued by the police. He seeks help from various rabbis, though they are only interested in vague philosophy. His son, a stoner, prepares for his Bar Mitzvah, when not complaining about the TV reception. Idiosyncratic to a fault, the Cohen brothers relive their youth in the 60s through a combined haze of pot smoke and Jewish culture. Highly unusual, to say the least, but if you are sober and a goy (non Jewish), this can be difficult to relate to, but is, nonetheless, completely mesmerizing.