A Serious Man

Spoiler alert.

I laughed hard during the first half, got bored with the lackluster heightening in the second half, and really loved the final image. For the whole movie the kids’ problems seem smaller and easier than the adults’ problems, which is how life works. Towards the end their only story arc (the $20/pot/radio thing) is coming to a clean, satisfying resolution. You already know the father is screwed, but you’re not really worried about the kids. In the back of your mind you know kids turn into adults and hit their own mid-life crises, but that doesn’t seem like a real thing yet. Then in the schoolyard with the tornado approaching they face death and Realize Everything Too Soon, and in the audience you Realize with them the universality and immediacy of this situation. In the background the Hebrew teacher is fumbling with the keys! He can educate them, but he can’t save them.