Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Serious Man

A Serious Man / A Serious Man. US (c) 2009 Focus Features. P+D+SC+ED: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen. DP: Roger Deakins - shot on film (Super 35) - 4K digital intermediate by EFilm. M: Carter Burwell. CAST: Michael Stuhlbarg (Larry Gopnik), Richard Kind (Uncle Arthur), Fred Melamed (Sy Ableman), Sari Lennick (Judith Gopnik), Aaron Wolff (Danny Gopnik), Jessica McManus (Sarah Gopnik). In Yiddish, Hebrew, and English. 105 min. A FS Film release with Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Kaisa Cullen / Sylva Lennberg. Viewed at Kinopalatsi 1, Helsinki, 11 Dec 2009.

Thanks to the 4K resolution of the digital intermediate I could not tell that the source of the film print screened was digital.

A black Jewish comedy, maybe the most personal and daring film by the Coen brothers. It goes deep in the mysteries of the Judaic faith. It is an original interpretation of the Book of Job, and one of the essential works of art inspired by Franz Kafka. I was constantly surprised watching the film and I cannot pretend having understood it sufficiently at first viewing. A film that needs and deserves to be revisited.

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