In Contention

‘A Serious Man’ trailer

Written by

in

It’s seldom these days that you get a trailer constructed with such care and wit — this does a bang-up job of sharply conveying tone and essence, while leaving the gift-wrap on the plot for a change. As for the film, I’m sensing a hybrid of the sober bleakness and self-reflexive zaniness that (respectively) characterized the Coens’ last two features. Intriguing.

Comments

17 responses to “‘A Serious Man’ trailer”

  1. Graham Avatar
    Graham

    It’s like Charlie Kaufman meets Barton Fink. Consider me excited!

  2. andrew Avatar
    andrew

    Definitely one of the best trailers I’ve seen in a while. I love that you only see Richard Kind for a split second, which is all the more promising that they don’t have to use him to sell it.

  3. Kokushi Avatar
    Kokushi

    Not bad not great either, i dont have a problem with unknown actors but from the trailer it didnt scream ”great”, the coens need alternate movie genres, one year a dark movie and the other a comedy not 2 comedies in a row.

  4. Guy Lodge Avatar

    Wasn’t “No Country for Old Men” a comedy of sorts? I think so. This is their groove — let them work it.

  5. James D. Avatar

    Oh man, that looks great. I did find it funny that they felt the need to list so many of their films. Don’t most moviegoers know who they are?

  6. JAB Avatar

    i mean, i thought Burn After Reading had a pretty good trailer too… I’m cautious about this one.

  7. Billyboy Avatar
    Billyboy

    “The rabbi is busy”

    That lady is this year’s Anton Chigurh. Great trailer…I’m there.

  8. Joel Avatar

    This looks freakin’ terrific.

    Guy: I wouldn’t group No Country in the Comedy category, but there WAS indeed some of the darkest, most pitch-black humor of 2007 in that movie. I was beginning to think that I was the only one that saw it.

  9. j Avatar
    j

    I don’t see the big deal about Richard Kind, unless it’s that he’s a slow person and it’s CoBros. From the years I watched Spin City he’s not that good.

    I don’t like the constant beat of the guy being slammed into the wall. It reminds me of that horrible A Milli song.

  10. Derek 8-Track Avatar
    Derek 8-Track

    funny, they left out Intolerable cruelty and The Lady Killers. lol

  11. BobMcBob Avatar
    BobMcBob

    The Coen brothers are elitists who enjoy insulting everyone from the common man to the high-brow intellectuall; their films are emotionally distant and don’t engage the audience into the experience, but rather keep the audience at arm’s length.

    Here’s an example of the contempt Joel Coen has for the audience:

    “I hate when people cry in movies. It’s particularly disconcerting when you’re sitting at a really awful movie and you hear people all around you sobbing and blowing their noses.”

    This new film looks like it’ll continue their trend of finding all that is vile in human behavior, and ignoring all that is good.

  12. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    The people that are ignoring all that is good are the ones who don’t enjoy Coen brothers movies.

  13. Chad Hartigan Avatar

    Fantastic trailer. Not sure that it’s made me want to see the film though.

  14. Frank Lee Avatar
    Frank Lee

    BobMcBob has a valid point. This kind of condescending humor can become tiresome very quickly. The brothers managed to walk a fine line in “Fargo” and succeeded brilliantly, but I haven’t seen any other movie of theirs that didn’t feel contemptuous of humanity, as BobMcBob suggests. That said, I’m from Minnesota and everyone here is keyed for this movie, their return home.

  15. katie Avatar
    katie

    YESSS!! Looks AMAZING. can’t wait.

  16. Troy Avatar
    Troy

    Trailer is giving me best picture quality expectations.

  17. Robert Hamer Avatar
    Robert Hamer

    Brilliant. Fucking brilliant trailer. And I find it funny that the Coen Brothers of all people are accused of condescension when they have created some of the most endearing characters of the last twenty years.