Comedy · Drama
American
2009 · Directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen · 106 min
Minnesota, 1967. A mild physics professor, Larry Gopnik, finds that his marriage, job, family and neighbours are all starting to slip away at once. He looks for guidance from his Jewish community and its rabbis in this dark, deadpan comedy about a decent man who wants to know what is being asked of him.
Why it matters in cinema history
A late peak of American auteur cinema in the 2000s, and the Coens' most direct engagement with Jewish identity, in a line from Kafka and Job to Woody Allen.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a modern parable: ask what Larry is being asked to do, and whether anyone around him can say.
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