Joel and Ethan Coen's "A Serious Man" is a dark, nasty tale about a man looking for meaning and purpose in his life.

This is a pretty common theme for the infamous Oscar-winning siblings, who normally thrust their protagonists into soul-sucking searches for meaning in existence by force rather than choice. "Raising Arizona"'s H.I. McDunnough didn't know his good side was battling for the very core of his being with his dark side until Randall "Tex" Cobb roared into his mobile home park through a blaze of fire. "Fargo"'s Marge Gunderson didn't realize she had to question her sunny worldview until her fateful encounter in the Minneapolis Radisson hotel lobby. "O Brother, Where Art Thou"'s Everett McGill didn't have to confront his faith in God until that roller-desk popped up from the bottom of that freshly-dammed lake. While most are simply content to label the Coen's as fanciful artisans with little interest in actual substance except for the abuse of their own characters (that's their detractors AND their admirers), their cannon shows filmmakers who have no problem with examining spirituality and philosophy through a prism of brute satire or with leaving a trail of unanswered questions in their path.     

With Larry Gopnik (the fantastic stage actor Michael Stuhlbarg), they have a character who actually SEEKS answers to the world around him and the forces that drive him. Whether by his study of physics or by seeking out the knowledge and wisdom of the Jewish religion, Larry wants to know how to turn around his horribly unlucky life. His wife (SariLennick) is leaving him for his "friend" Cy (Fred Melamed ) and, yet, insists that Larry moves into the local hotel. His brother Arthur (Richard Kind, the most recognizable actor in the whole film) won't leave the couch and has no real plans to do so. His son Danny (Aaron Wolff), despite his attending a traditional Hebrew school, smokes a lot of pot and is on the verge of delinquency.  Larry has a student trying to alternatively bribe/extort him into a better grade on a mid-term exam. The tenure committee of his university is receiving anonymous hate mail focusing on Larry's performance. His only bright spot is the sunbathing neighbor (AmyLandecker ) who offers a variety of temptations. All of these threats amount to a spiritual crisis where questions about purpose and meaning breathe down our protagonist's neck. Larry seeks the guidance of the rabbis of the local synagogue. He first goes to the Junior Rabbi whose advice is anemic. Larry then goes to an Associate Rabbi whose advice is confusing if any advice could be derived at all. The Senior Rabbi says nothing really...until the end when his advice and wisdom come from a very peculiar source.

 The story pits Larry into several competing existential debates about his fate. Does this come from God, as represented by Larry's struggle with faith? If God is so loving, why are His tests so trying? Does this come from another cosmic force, as represented by Larry's mathematical equations he is constantly chalking up? Is there something more sinister than that, as represented by the very strange prologue featuring a Yiddish couple convinced their mysterious visitor is a long-deceased neighbor who has placed a curse on their home. (Seemingly, this last possibility is the most likely as Larry - in trying to explain to a student why he compares a physics problem with a dead cat - later states "that stories are used to help us explain our problems and simplify the solutions".) Then again, there are also cues that the Coen's see Larry's misfortunes as some sort of random and sinister joke - that perhaps nothing could be done to make sense of this. (Such a position is taken by the Columbia Records Club bill collector that keeps telling him that "(b)y doing nothing, you accept our Album of the Month.") Once it seems that the film has settled on a theory of randomness, they come around in the last two minutes to present predicaments as unsettling as anything in the Coen Brothers previous work. (If you want a spoiler, read Job 40:6-7 in the Old Testament.)   

All of this amounts to an construct within "A Serious Man" to make the audience ponder we, as humans, questions fate and whether fate even bothers who our search for these answers. Whether your perspective comes from a religious standpoint that God either tests you through horrific situations or whether you believe these terrible things happen because of a scientific concoction, there is a sick enjoyment to take from this piece of cinema. It's a funny film, but not funny in a very typical way. It's a film where the humor comes from reflection, from a pleasure that only exists in a film as cleverly conceived as this. Your initial reaction will be of cold disdain. I've never really felt certain about something from these filmmakers on the first viewing. Only after I fail to shake them out of my head does the brilliance really come forth.  The Coens do go for something easy laughs that are hard to forgive: Jewish stereotypes like excessive phlegm and women obsessed about getting nose jobs are eye-rolling in their simplicity. Plus, they revert back to a reliance on dream sequences - something they haven't really done since "The Big Lebowski" - that cheapens the impact of certain scenes. Overall, a lot of this can be forgiven because of how elegantly the film weaves its parables with its tragedies;  its humor with its darkness.

I must warn some of this must be taken with a grain of salt as I am constantly in apology of Joel and Ethan Coen. But I think that, once people shake off the weirdness and the disturbing elements of the film, "A Serious Man" can be taken as a thoughtful, off-beat and devastating critique of what drives us to understand greater meaning in life, to be considered "serious men". It's a serious trip but one well-worth taking.  It starts at The Moxie on Friday the 6th.

Four stars (out of five)

"A Serious Man" is rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence.