‘A Serious Man’: Coen brothers craft the Jewiest film of all
ToI's movie maven and deputy editor kvell over the 2009 dark comedy set in the wilds of 1967 Minnesota
Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.
This week, we learn that famed actress and chanteuse Barbra Streisand received an honorary Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Borschel-Dan, who is reading the artist’s massive memoir, calls on all podcast fans to send in the names of their favorite Streisand films for a future episode.
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We then turn to the monumentally Jewish movie, “A Serious Man,” written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen in 2009.
Set in 1967 Minnesota, the film focuses on the Gopnik family: father Larry, mother Judith, kids Danny and Sarah, and uncle Arthur. On the surface, the middle-class family appears to be merrily rolling along, anticipating Danny’s approaching bar mitzvah. And then everything falls apart and it becomes a very funny retelling of the Book of Job.
However, before the movie takes off, the audience is treated to a quote from the great rabbinic sage Rashi and is shown a Yiddish-only shtetl ghost story short — just… because.
Stay tuned for our duo’s thoughts on the much-recommended Coen brothers’ film, “A Serious Man.”
The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.