A Serious Man – Joel and Ethan Coen

The first thing that popped up my mind after watching the movie was, “ Why so serious!” There are two lines keep coming back and forth during the movie, “I’ve done nothing wrong!” and “I am a serious man.” But do they really matter? Life is life, we are not living alone in the world, and we can’t control everything.

Life is not always fair, Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) a Jewish college professor, experienced the worst of his life, a divorce, a complaint might affect his career, a bribe, financial problems, health issue… etc. everything just seems rushing toward his way. He has been a good husband, a good father, and a good teacher. He didn’t really “DO” anything to deserve any of these. However, this is life, the more it seems we could control our destiny the more the possibility plummet.

Then he tried to seek help form the three Rabbis, the harder he tried the more confused he got. Being an audience it was fun to watch, you may enjoy a few black humors, I totally understand how frustrated it could be when you are so eager to find the answer and all you get are more mysteries. He was not satisfied with any of them and trying to find the answer why unpleasant things happened to him, but is there any answers? No,

When his brother was sitting at the edge of the empty swimming pool crying, shouting that Larry has everything, family, a job, and a life. It is true but was it how he wanted it to turn out? Maybe not. Somehow we are all living in the world of expectations, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have any expectations. Expectation is like the fuel of a better life, the motivation helps us to work harder, better to improve the life we are living. The flip side, we always fail to fulfill those expectations and started blaming ourselves for not doing enough, or in this case, “what have I done wrong?”

Thinking sometimes hurts. Too much of everything hurts in a way or two. Relax! Stop being so serious about anything, stop finding answers when you are suppose to learn during the process. Just breathe and stop asking why.