The Coen Brothers direct Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind and Fred Melamed in this bleak comedy where a Jewish college professor’s humdrum life unravels in the 1960s.

The Dybbuk. The goy’s teeth. The “Mentaculus”. Joel and Ethan’s biggest enigma. Is it a fable? Is it fate? Some faithful yet biblical recreation of their childhoods? The closest we have gotten to the existential dread of Barton Fink but here the mysteries are both more suburban yet difficult to fully fathom. Stuhlbarg is fantastic, permanently harried, this is the role that made him “a name”. Maybe they lean into the dream sequence rug pull once too often, maybe for non-Coen initiates this will feel like a big nothing? I don’t know. I’m a fan and I find it spellbinding.

9

Perfect Double Bill: Indignation (2016)

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