Obvious Child

First Hit:  This film is direct, at times interesting, and at other times touching.

Although the film is about a woman comedian, it doesn’t necessarily make it a comedy. Is it funny at times? Yes.

But what struck me about this film was the directness of the main character Donna Stern (played by Jenny Slate). Directness doesn’t make the character smart or making smart choices, yet the frankness of Stern’s (character) is admirable.

For me this film is really about how we keep people away by not being open in our hearts to see how others might be reaching out. The opening sequence has Donna on stage at a small comedy club sharing her life and her life with her current boyfriend. As comedians will do, her observations of their relationship in public do not make him feel good, and after the show he dumps her. This begins a sequence of events that have her begin trying to discover more about her life.

Enter Max (Jake Lacy), a very different man than she’s used to being around. This film is about changing, seeing oneself and another in a deeper way and trusting the feelings and another person. My favorite two scenes: When she tells her mom she’s pregnant and when she’s on the couch with Max at the end – both very touching.

Slate was really good at portraying a woman needing to shift her view of family and her life. Lacy was strong as a solid guy who cares and wants to care about Donna. Polly Draper as Nancy Stern (mother) was good at showing her heart at the right time. Richard Kind as Donna’s dad Jacob was also good as the creative dad Donna relates to. Gillian Robespierre and Kelly Maine wrote a very strong script. Robespierre did a really good job of directing this story.

Overall:  It was a good film about a woman making a difficult decision and learning to let go of her stranglehold on her own heart.

A Serious Man

First Hit: Well filmed, mildly amusing and probably more amusing if one is Jewish.

The points of this film are; some people are cursed, the curse can last generations, Rabbis don’t listen very well and they tell non-helpful stories.

Yes, I laughed at some of the situational and/or circumstantial comedic real life situations experienced by Larry Gopnik (played by Michael Stuhlbarg), but I also felt like I was missing the deeper meaning of the joke.

There were a couple people in the audience that were totally lock in on the humor and they laughed loudly and often to the situational scenes and dialog. I did enjoy the late 1960s look and feel of the film and thought it was accurately reflected.

The story is about Larry and how things keep coming down on him like a tsunami. First we see him at the doctor getting tests (later we have the hint of bad news), his wife Judith (played by Sari Lennick) tells him she wants a divorce and she's seeing someone else, his son is a pothead and complains about the TV antenna not being aimed right, and a Korean student is bribing him for a passing grade.

His brother Arthur (played by Richard Kind) is living with him, is jobless, and has a machine which attaches to his neck and drains some unknown infection. Larry also gets in an automobile accident, he's threatened by his neighbor who's encroaching on his property line, and he has no one to confide in. When he visits the Rabbis he is told stories that have nothing to do with his current problem.

Stuhlbarg and Kind were good in their characters as were most of the cast, but the Coen brothers appear to have made this film with a smaller audience in mind. For me the best part of the film was the outstanding musical choices. Jefferson Airplane and Jimi Hendrix along with other classical rock and finer classical pieces enhanced the overall feel of the film.

Overall: For me, the brothers created a very self indulgent piece work and although it is well made its appeal is limited.