The Movie
After visiting places like North Dakota, D.C. Texas and (Raising) Arizona, Coen Brothers Joel and Ethan have crafted what appears to be their most personal film to date, if not out-and-out "autobiographical." Their dark comedy A Serious Man recounts the experience of growing up Jewish in the Minnesota suburbs during the 1960s, subject mater which--according to their press releases-- is near and dear to them.
The cinematic Gopnick family is led by the comically unhinged dad, Larry (Michael Stuhlbarg, heading up a mostly-unknown, universally brilliant cast). This physics professor's dull life begins to unravel with both a bribe from one his students and the news that his wife is leaving him for another man. His journey to make sense of it all is an amusing tale packed with subtle humor and other Coen trademarks, a nostalgic tour for some and education for others.
Also check out Karen Dahlstrom's review of A Serious Man.
The Picture
The movie is presented at 1.85:1 (with an opening sequence framed at 1.37:1) and is predominately well-lit and sharply focused, proffering an image so clean that we are tempted to start counting every wrinkle, every freckle, every hair on these characters, often photographed in unflattering conditions. Blacks are not problematic, noise is well-controlled, and the happy colors of the suburban sprawl are a delight. Only one shot was an issue, a pan across the neighborhood rooftops, which flickers unpleasantly on video.
The Sound
The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel sound displays fine discrete channeling as when an eerie, booming knock comes on the door, or for the hard slap of a game of catch, or footsteps in a fevered chase. Early on, a snowy wind blows all around us, and Carter Burwell's musical score is respectfully mixed throughout, in addition to a punchy, recurring remix of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love." In truth, the sound design is not super-ambitious but is well-executed.
The Extras
The disc includes three featureettes, all in HD. In "Becoming Serious" (17 minutes), The Coens, their cast and crew ruminate on the movie, while in "Creating 1967" (14 minutes) the costumes (even the vintage undergarments!), the props, the sets, the locations and the cars for this specific time and place are detailed. And the two-minute "Hebrew and Yiddish for Goys" provides a funny and informative crash course in the abundant cultural terms, some more obscure than others. The disc is also BD-Live-enabled and even before street date it loaded fresh coming attractions and delivered news on all of Universal Studios' Academy Award nominations.
Final Thoughts
Exquisitely honest and all the more humorous for it, A Serious Man is a welcome return to form for The Coens, an Oscar underdog ready to be discovered on this high-quality Blu-ray incarnation.
Product Details
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