How "A Serious Man" Changed My Worldview

This movie came along at an eerily perfect time in my life. In a nutshell, it's about bad things happening to good people and the punishing tests life presents. I've gotten to know these tests all too well this year. My dad was diagnosed with cancer, his week-long recovery from surgery turned into 9 months, my dog died--the list goes on. I'm not asking for pity, though. Things are getting better--much better. My dad is now home and continuing to improve every day. We've bonded more than ever before. Things seem to be looking up, but, as "A Serious Man" shows, this good fortune could stop right now and we could all be swept away by a tornado. There is no telling what life will bring or why.

The film's tale of Larry Gopnik, a man suddenly hit with marital, professional, and moral dilemmas, has taught me a valuable and liberating lesson: It's pointless to dwell on your misfortunes because more often than not, there may be no real reason behind them whatsoever. Everyone is vulnerable to them, even good people. There is no reasoning with the Devil before he works his deeds on you.

If you spend your whole life questioning what happens to you, you are not living to the fullest, you are not progressing forward. As a character in the film states, you sometimes have to "accept the mystery" and just go on living.

"A Serious Man" also points out that happiness is not a long term thing. It comes for the characters in small doses: listening to Jefferson Airplane in school, watching a few minutes of "F-Troop" before the TV gets fuzzy, seeing a son's barmitzfah. Those small moments shouldn't be taken for granted.

Many Coen Brothers' films share these sentiments. "The Big Lebowski" in particular is about embracing life and warding off negativity as much as possible. "You can't be worried about that shit, man. Life goes on," the laidback, fun-loving Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski says.

In short, as cliched as it may sound, life is precious, it is meant to be savored. In fact, punishment may ensue if it is not. When "A Serious Man" came to a close, I was completely shaken by these thoughts. Panic pulsed through me--I wanted to get out, leave my worries behind and start embracing life as quickly as possible. Although the film's ending is not a happy one, it is incredibly satisfying--refreshing in its refusal to give easy answers and provide tidy resolutions. The film does not explain life's madness. It simply, refreshingly, forces you to watch it unfold. It's real, not the stuff of utopian Hollywood fantasy. The audience didn't move or speak when the film was over. When the lights came up, they just sat there, still shaken from staring into the abyss, being confronted by ambiguity and their worst fears.

"A Serious Man" provides a cathartic experience. It sent me out into the night awake, alert, and strong. This film forced me to confront my deepest fears and by the end, made me feel like I had conquered them.

The Informant!

It's not the acts of espionage in "The Informant!" that are funny, but the bland, unromantic places in which they occur. When you see "Springfield, IL" pop up urgently in bold, demanding letters across the screen, your first instinct is to laugh. In that sense, director Steven Soderbergh has succeeded. His goal is to deromanticize the corporate thriller genre with a comic spirit, revealing how bureaucratic and "uncool" (for lack of a better term) the business of spying can be. He aims to show you that corporate corruption and espionage are very real and occuring all around you, not only in the exotic locales of James Bond films, but in shabby offices across your city.

Matt Damon, in a career-high performance, stars as Mark Whitacre, the real-life whistleblower behind ADM's lysine price-fixing scandal of the 90s. In the film, Whitacre is a bit of a child: wide-eyed, extremely sensitive, self-absorbed. However, Damon and Soderbergh do not simply mock him. They give him virtually the same treatment Oliver Stone gave George W. Bush in his biopic, "W." That is, they only gently poke fun, showing genuine affection for him beneath their humorous jabs. In their hands, Whitacre is never unlikable. This is due in large part to the endearing innocence Damon brings to the character. Late in the film, when FBI agent Brian Shepard (Scott Bakula) asks Whitacre why he keeps lying, you truly believe Damon when he simply, sadly says in his mind, "I don't know."It's an intimate, poignant moment. This is not a throwaway comedy like some critics are calling it. There is truth and raw emotion behind the humor.

Many other scenes of this film are still swimming around in my head. I'm still in awe of the acting as well. Not only from Damon, but Bakula, Joel McHale, Tom Papa, and Tony Hale to name a few. The casting is simply perfect. Everyone fits their role so naturally and convincingly. I couldn't imagine any other actors playing these parts.

This film is not Oscar bait. It's not a searing legal thriller in the vein of "Michael Clayton" or "The Insider." It's not a slick depiction of sharks in suits. That's why I love it, though.

QUESTION

Does anyone read this blog? Just curious. I want to make sure that I am not just ranting to myself with these entries.

Quick Reviews

I'm trying to catch up, so here are some capsule reviews of the latest films...

"9"- A post-apocalyptic tale chronicling the adventures of a group of small, burlap sock puppet robots. This film is very original yet familiar, evoking H.G. Wells, tin-pot Isaac Asimov, and Max Fleischer's 1940s Superman cartoons. Like its main characters, 9 is stitched out of old scraps yet emerges as something unlike anything you've seen before.

"Inglourious Basterds"- It might not be his masterpiece, but this is definitely Quentin Tarantino's tensest film. He proves himself as a master of suspense with the first chapter alone, "Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied Frace." The ominous high-pitched strings on the soundtrack, the quiet tension between the characters, the overwhelming sense of dread. It is a scene of Hitchcockian power. Few of the following scenes are quite as effective, but the film is engrossing nonetheless. Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, and especially Christoph Waltz deliver very charismatic, complex performances in this exuberant World War II epic.

"Taking Woodstock"- This is not a sweeping historical drama about the revolutionary 1969 concert that united the nation. That does not mean the film is bad, though. Far from it. Its meandering, minimalist style is refreshingly subversive. It also charms with a quiet, subtle performance from Demetri Martin as the unlikely helm of the legendary concert, Eliot Tiber.
The film succeeds as a quiet journey through a loud and turbulent era.

"Shrink"- A refreshingly sympathetic satire of Hollywood and the eccentric souls that keep it alive. Kevin Spacey stars as a Tinseltown psychiatrist struggling to help himself and his patients. Screenwriter Thomas Moffett and director Jonas Pate never simply mock these characters. This is evident in an indelible scene wherein two actors (played by Jack Huston and Robin Williams) ramble inappropriately during a press junket. Underneath the humor of this moment, we see their exhaustion, their struggle to remain enthusiastic about a career that never allows them to be their true selves. Thankfully, the rest of the film is just like this scene: intimately poignant.

Exciting Update

I have some exciting news-- I've started writing for NUVO Magazine and I couldn't be happier. I'll be writing movie reviews and various news stories about new films and I am thrilled. I normally don't like to pat myself on the back, but I am so excited about this, I just had to share it. Here are my first two NUVO articles...

'Shrink': New film, old school marketing (http://www.nuvo.net/entertainment/article/shrink-new-film-old-school-marketing)

You could tell in his voice that he was nervous. Nervous for his film. Nervous about the crowds at the Keystone Art Cinema awaiting him with questions. Perhaps most of all, screenwriter Thomas Moffett was nervous this past Friday and Saturday night during the Q and A for his new film, Shrink because, despite attracting an impressive cast, he is not a big-ticket filmmaker. Not yet, anyway.

A mere few years ago, he was just another Indiana kid, raised in West Lafayette, who dreamed of being a storyteller. He shows incredible promise with Shrink. But the film needs help getting seen.

You’d think Academy Award winning actors Kevin Spacey and Robin Williams would make it an easy sell. Being an independent film, however, Shrink cannot afford an advertising campaign and the filmmakers are therefore relying on word of mouth. They shouldn’t have to worry for long. Shrink is bound to provoke plenty of discussion.

Spacey stars as a Hollywood psychiatrist struggling to help his patients while coping with his own problems. The deft, vivid portrait of Tinseltown and the intimacy the film has with its show biz characters is surprising considering screenwriter Moffett is not from Hollywood. Then again, the characters’ conflicts often transcend Hollywood issues. Moffett explained that this was his intention. He said, “I'm not a Hollywood insider by any means. I live in New York. I just wanted to write a film about people with problems. Hollywood magnifies their problems because everything is under more scrutiny there, but my goal was to create characters that the audience would connect with. I think that with some adjustments, you could put the characters in any town.” Moffett has achieved his goal. The key strength of the film is its universally appealing characters. Spacey’s performance is particularly compelling.

Moffett agrees that Spacey’s performance is powerful and will attract people to the film. He elaborated, “There is a vulnerability and an intimacy to his performance which is incredibly moving for me to watch, not only as the writer, but as a member of the audience.”

Shrink is a great little film [see review on page 28]. It just needs a push. As Moffett explained, money is and always will be the biggest obstacle in independent filmmaking and Shrink simply cannot afford a marketing campaign. It’s currently playing at the Keystone Art Cinema. So, as Moffett stressed at the end of his Q and A, “tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone you know to see it.”

'Shrink' will continue its run at Landmark Theatres in the Fashion Mall: http://www.landmarktheatres.com/.

"Shrink" Quick Review...

NUVO Rates it: 4 out of 5 stars

Shrink is a refreshingly sympathetic satire of Hollywood and the eccentric souls that keep it alive. Kevin Spacey stars as a Tinseltown psychiatrist struggling to help himself and his patients. Screenwriter Thomas Moffett and director Jonas Pate never mock these characters. This is evident in an indelible scene wherein two actors (played by Jack Huston and Robin Williams) ramble inappropriately during a press junket. Underneath the humor of this moment, we see their exhaustion, their struggle to remain enthusiastic about a career that never allows them to be their true selves. Thankfully, the rest of the film is just like this scene: intimately poignant. 106 minutes. http://www.nuvo.net/entertainment/article/quick-movie-review-shrink

A Look Back at the Best Film of 2008

"Politics do not define a human being. There's more to people than how they vote." Who would've ever thought that these words would be uttered in an Oliver Stone film? Stone, the filmmaker with the razor-sharp bite of a political cartoon evident in such incendiary political dramas as "JFK" and "Nixon," rather audaciously chooses to put politics in the backseat of his George W. Bush biopic, "W." With its refusal to indulge in typical Stoneian melodrama and vengeful sociopolitical satire, "W." is Stone's most genius stroke of wit yet. He has truly topped himself, for what is more daring than treating Bush, one of the most universally ridiculed presidents in American history, like a human being? With the help of the terrific Josh Brolin, Stone accomplishes something truly special: he brings soulfulness to the political drama.

"W." bounces back and forth from Bush's presidency to his youth, filled with hard partying and failed jobs. This nonlinear structure makes Bush's life seem all the more surreal. Stone's shock cuts from past to present make for a dizzying experience. One sequence, for example, cuts from a young Bush confiding in his wife, Laura about the insecurity catalyzed by his father to President 'Dubya' planning a full-scale invasion of Iraq. These startling transitions inject the audience with dread and disbelief--disbelief that a man-child, party boy could go on to become the most powerful man in the world, a man with destruction at his fingertips. So, where does the soulfulness come in?

For the emotional power of this biopic journey, give credit to Josh Brolin for his sympathetic portrayal of our 43rd president. He transcends mere imitation of Bush and creates a charismatic and often tragic character. He engages the audience by portraying Bush as an everyman. He's sheepish in press conferences, quietly self-loathing in cabinet meetings. Brolin cuts through Bush's famous cocksureness, revealing his vulnerability. Most importantly, Brolin's Bush appears to be contemplating his place in the universe at all times, but especially in the film's magical closing shot in which he gazes up at the starry night sky, as if looking for answers. With this shot, Stone shows how he has changed as a filmmaker. For the first time in his career, he reveals that he doesn't have all the answers, that he can't fully cut through the darkness of the political world. The turmoil of our times is made all the more frightening and thought-provoking by his inability to reach a solid conclusion about it. Like Bush, all he can do is look up and wonder.

"Moon" Review

For those who think they know hard science fiction, you don't. I have not seen another sci-fi film filled with so much raw, frightening human emotion. "Moon's" setting may be cold and barren, but its story and characters are devastating and impossibly alive.

Sam Rockwell stars as Sam Bell, an astronaut sent to the moon to fulfill a three year contract of gathering materials to fuel Earth. Writer-director Duncan Jones is daring in that instead of showing you this long span of time and Sam's evolution, he sets the story two weeks before Sam's mission is over--when the psychological effects of isolation rear their ugly heads. The film starts right off the bat with Sam experiencing hallucinations and losing his temper. Like the great directors (Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch, Michael Haneke), Jones instantly makes you feel unsafe in his hands. And the surprises just keep flowing.

The film takes a "Twilight Zone"-esque turn when Sam finds a man on the moon that appears identical to him. This is when Rockwell really shines. He creates a chemistry between he and...himself that is so convincing, it's really quite shocking. He adds humor and awkwardness to the relationship, making it both fun and achingly real.

Critics have complained that this film does not raise enough philosophical questions. Well, maybe it doesn't do so directly, but I found plenty of things to ponder like... Would I like myself if I was faced with a clone? How capable are we as a species of suspending disbelief? How far are we willing to protect our planet? Would we bend our morals to do so?

Jones pulls the rug out from under the audience not only in the story, but in the way he has marketed the film and the release date he has agreed to. It's a genius stroke of wit to make the audience expect a summer sci-fi spectacle/fast-paced thriller and deliver a methodical, haunting character study. The great thing about this film is that it could take place anywhere. The moon is just a backdrop for its story of loneliness and insanity. It does not depend too heavily on its sci-fi elements. It's one of the few science fiction films that depends instead on human drama.

"Moon" is a punch to the gut. When it's over, you won't know what hit you. In short, it's one of the best films of the year.

"Moon"

Grade: A