Spring Bee Hiving Moon
Saw A Serious Man tonight. Coen brothers. Might not have quite the resonance if you are either A) not a minnesotan or B) not a Jew, but if you are both or if your wife is Jewish and many of your friends are, too, and you live in Minnesota, this is a must see movie.
So many in-jokes. “Ron Meshbesher? Is he expensive?” “Well, he’s not cheap.” A past conductor of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Hugh Wolf’s son, Aaron, plays a major role as a stoner Bar Mitzvah boy and a neighborhood in Bloomington became the perfect 1967 setting for poor schlub Larry Gropnik’s modest 60’s home.
A black comedy, this movie moves with great pacing through a short period in Larry’s life where he’s up for tenure, his wife declares her affection for another man, his son listens to the Jefferson Airplane in Hebrew School, his brother hangs around like an unresolved note, his neighbor is a bigot who comes home in one scene with a dead buck lashed to the top of his station wagon and two rabbi’s give him hilariously bad advice.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth it.