“Joel and Ethan Coen’s ‘A Serious Man’ will shoot in the Twin Cities this fall, partly because of the snowbate and partly because the brothers have always been committed to shooting their films on the locations where they’re set.
‘I took them to Temple Israel and their eyes teared up. They were remembering all the bar mitzvahs they went to there,’ Shapiro said. ”

Dunno what that exactly means, but I would say look for the film to be one of their most personal.

Pat, I think the Coens may have evolved over the years between “Fargo” and “No Country” … Thus, perhaps, the more bleak “No Country” might reflect that evolution … also, I think that the current, um, political climate might have something to do with it.

Evan, of course you’re right … Smalls is emblematic of disorder, chaos, etc. … probably I didn’t consider it because, rightly or wrongly, we don’t take “comedies” as seriously. Not a good idea with the Coens.

Thank you all for your gracious comments. They mean a lot.

(P.S. do you all remember the old “Get Smart” TV show, where the global bad guy organization, out to rule the world, was called “Kaos”?)

One of the things I admire about the Coens is their consistency. You can easily trace No Country all the way back to Raising Arizona and Blood Simple. Their production values have gotten slicker, but they’re the same two filmmakers that started out over 2 decades ago.

Again, great article Rick.

Excellent write-up here, Reverend Rick. Thanks for the insight.

I especially appreciate the parallels and contrasts you make between “Fargo” and “No Country for Old Men.” I feel I may be a bit like the pastor you spoke to, because my recurring thought after seeing “No Country” was that it suffered for the lack of a Marge Gunderson-like character could remind us “There’s more to life than a little bit of money.” I wanted a moral point of view expressed somewhere in the film, and got none. Call me old-fashioned, I guess.

Nice work.