Everything You Ever Need To Know About Life...

... you can learn from:

A Serious Man (2009)

Larry Gopnik: She seems to be asking an awful lot. 

But then, I don't know. Somebody has to pay for Sy's funeral. 

Rabbi Nachtner: Uh-huh. 

Larry Gopnik: His own estate is in probate, but why does it 

have to be me? Or is it wrong to complain? Judy says it is. 

But I'm so strapped for cash right now, carrying the mortgage, 

and paying for the Jolly Roger, and I wrecked the car, 

and Danny's Bar Mitzvah coming up, I... 

Rabbi: Something like this, there's never a good time. 

Larry Gopnik: I don't know where it all leaves me, Sy's death. 

Obviously it's not gonna go back like it was. 

Rabbi Nachtner: Mm. Would you even want that, Larry? 

Larry Gopnik: No, I- well, yeah... sometimes... or... 

I don't know; I guess the honest answer is "I don't know". 

What was my life before? Not what I thought it was. 

What does it all mean? What is Hashem trying to tell me, 

making me pay for Sy Ableman's funeral? 

Rabbi Nachtner: Mm. 

Larry Gopnik: And did I tell you I had a car accident 

the same time Sy had his? The same instant, for all I know. 

I mean, is Hashem telling me that Sy Ableman is me? 

Or that we are all one, or something? 

Rabbi Nachtner: How does God speak to us? A good question. 

A very happy 48th birthday to Michael Stuhlbarg today, who's quickly become one of my favorite actors ever since this, possibly the Coens' second greatest film in my estimation, came out in 2009. (As an aside, this movie is less than 6 bucks on blu-ray on Amazon right now.) I'm especially excited that he was cast to play the main character's father in Luca Guadangino's upcoming film Call Me By Your Name -- there's an absolutely killer scene for his character towards the end of the book that, if the movie works, will be extraordinarily moving; hell it could even be an Oscar clip.