A Serious Man (2009)

Set in the 1960s, a Jewish physics professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) finds his life crumbling around him. He is stunned when his wife (Sari Lennick) announces she's leaving him for a family friend (Fred Melamed), his unemployed brother (Richard Kind) won't move off the couch, mysterious letters accusing him of "moral turpitude" threaten his position at the university and health issues that might prove life threatening. Written and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (RAISING ARIZONA). One of the Coen Brothers most critically acclaimed films on its release, it doesn't seem to receive the retrospective love that other Coen films like BLOOD SIMPLE, FARGO, THE BIG LEBOWSKI, O BROTHER WHERE ARE THOU? or NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN have. Maybe its narrative is too "Jewish" for mainstream audiences but I found this dark (very dark) comedy with biblical undertones mesmerizing. The movie's bleak outlook (and there are unfair accusations of misanthropy as well) perhaps reflects my own pessimistic nature so I'm on the same wavelength. With Adam Arkin and Amy Landecker.