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Uz is not Oz, but then Oz was not Oz either, which is a very brief description of the Coen brothers’ newest movie, possibly the most serious comedy ever written for the screen.
Uz was the land inhabited by Job of biblical fame, where every manner of misfortune was visited on a just man. And Oz was, well you know… the promised land where no promise is kept, and pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
I heard an astonishing radio interview of an American GI who had just returned from tours in Afghanistan to find himself unable to pay the mortgage on his house. He complained about the stress. When asked to compare it to dodging bullets, he said it was much more stressful, because he knew what to do in the field.
It seems wrong to minimize life-threatening situations by putting them in the same paragraph with domestic challenges, but there you are.
Every movie deserves its time, and now we have this one.
None of the main actors is recognizable, which makes for easy identification for the audience. Only Adam Arkin and Richard Kind, who plays Uncle Arthur, do we know from other roles. Michael Stuhlbarg does such a great job as the central protagonist that throughout his trials and tribulations, we keep wondering where else have I seen this guy.
Thousands of reviewers will focus on the Job reference and spend time telling us that the Coen brothers grew up in an intensely Jewish community in the Midwest. Every realistic story about social interaction must plunge into a world, with believable specifics, and this happens to be one the Coen brothers know very well (but they’ve already shown us so many others). More important than the colorful language (the website for A Serious Man includes a Yiddish glossary), is the way this particular world outlook and this film articulate simultaneous struggles: how to deal with the demands of the world while searching for meaning while trying to be a good man. This story is universal; it’s for everyone, especially in this country at this time.
The characters surrounding Larry Gopnik are as helpful to him as Job’s neighbors who do nothing more than blame him for his troubles. In the midst of all, Job cries out: “My days are swifter than a runner, they flee away.” See this movie.
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