It seems like only a few months back we were chuckling (for the most part) at the exploits of Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovich in the Coen spy comedy, Burn After Reading. Made rather speedily on the heels of the multi-Oscar winning success of No Country For Old Men, and starring the Coens' most eye-catchingly A-list cast to date, you could be forgiven for believing that the Coens were heading in a direction a little less leftfield and little more universally accessible. Whilst it could have been feared that this may lead them closer to the dangerous territory of the Intolerable Cruelty and Ladykiller days (usually acknowledged as the Coens' least, well, Coen-like, works and also their worst), the film itself went some way to prove that, regardless of a star cast, the Coens' are still masters of creating a unique mix of comedy, weirdness and violence never quite seen anywhere else.
Yesterday Empire Online brought news of the trailer for the Brothers' latest offering, A Serious Man. Set in 1967, it tells the story of Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a Jewish academic who's up for tenure and facing a series of personal crises. His wife (Sari Wagner Lennick) wants a divorce so she can marry his colleague (Fred Melamed); his brother (Richard Kind) is living on his sofa and his children are stealing from him. He looks for advice from three different rabbis, but doesn't get exactly what he's looking for. It has the potential to be pretty bleak, yet it also has the potential - if done right - to be very funny. In other words, it has the potential to be very Coen. And not a star name in sight!
Check the preview out below:
I personally think the trailer is wonderfully done. It gives away suitably little, and yet at the same time it feels like it may be giving artful set-up to the themes and atmosphere of the film. The looping sounds and images give the impression of a man who's sad life has left him trapped in a never-ending cycle, desperate for help - whilst shots of scratched teeth and Larry spying on his sunbathing neighbour seem to suggest a more sinister element. And it all builds up to a great punchline exchange. Imagine that the Coen filmography that rolls near the end were a list of credits and the whole edit could almost be presented as a short film in itself.
I have to admit that I was beginning to worry that the Coens may be getting over prolific after their No Country success and would start rushing out lower quality films, with more focus on big names than unique ideas - I mean Burn After Reading was good, but it wasn't quite their best. However, from this trailer, A Serious Man looks like a great return to their shades of brown and grey, wonderfully odd 20th century period films, like Barton Fink (one of my favourites). Encouraging stuff! I await this one eagerly.
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