Friday, February 19, 2010

Fun with Oscar - A Serious Man

I am going out of order on this one (I have been posting the nominated movies in the order I've seen them), primarily because this one will take me the shortest amount of time to write.

What the hell Coen brothers?  What the hell Academy?  I don't understand how or why this movie was nominated for Best Picture.

Now that's not saying this movie is bad, as it wasn't "bad", but I just really didn't understand it.  You can argue that it's because I lack depth, artistic intelligence, etc., I won't be offended.  Honestly, it's no real surprise that I didn't understand it, considering the movie is 1) by the Coen Brothers, and 2) has been classified as a postmodern film.

I haven't seen all of the movies done by the Coen Brothers.  Some, like Burn After Reading, are on my list of movies to see.  I'm thinking primarily of their last picture, No Country For Old Men, which was nominated and won (to my chagrin) Best Picture in 2008.  In my opinion, There Will Be Blood was far superior.  I did not understand that movie at all, and although I thought Javier Bardem was brilliant, I thought the movie was "eh".

I've seen a couple po-mo films and understood what they were getting at, like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Truman Show, Austin Powers, and Scream, and also seen some po-mo films that I may not have totally understood what they were getting at but liked them anyway (see: Fight Club, all the Matrix movies, and Rules of Attraction).  I feel as though I may have missed the point on "A Serious Man", and would love for some of you to let me know what you thought if you've seen it, but I wouldn't recommend you put it on your list.

My favorite thing about this movie was some of the sets and the location shots.  The shots of their house and neighborhood were really cool, and I totally covet the couch and chair in the second rabbi's office and the owl statues in the lawyer's office.

No comments: