REVIEW
movie review // 'A SERIOUS MAN'
Hollywood hits, indie flicks and everything in between.
That biblical character Job had it easy compared to poor Larry Gormnick.
A Serious Man is the Coen Brothers' newest and darkest comic fable, an off-beat study in preternatural doom that would feel more like an outright tragedy if it weren't laced with some of the year's funniest performances and dialogue. And watch out for that ending.
At first glance, timid physics professor Larry Gopnick (Michael Stuhlbarg) seems to be enjoying his meager lot in life. He's on the cusp of receiving tenure and his youngest son Danny (Aaron Wolff) is about to celebrate his bar mitzah.
Then, all at once, Larry's life falls apart. A student starts blackmailing him for a passing grade. An anonymous tormentor sends accusatory letters to the university in a bid to obstruct his tenure application. His wife (Sari Lennick) abruptly leaves him for an older, wealthier professor named Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed). Soon Larry finds himself stranded in the Jolly Roger Motel with no one for company but his dim-witted brother Arthur (Richard Kind).
Desperate to know why he has become fate's whipping boy, Larry seeks the counsel of three local rabbis, each more eminent and respectable than the last. But none of these holy men have any real insight into life and its karmic ambiguities. One even dispenses Jefferson Airplane lyrics as nuggets of cosmic wisdom.
The film's casting is nearly pitch perfect. Stuhlbarg, a longtime stage actor making his big screen debut here, makes the audience feel every ounce of Larry's pain and exasperation but exaggerates just enough for us to still find it hilarious. The other actress highlight of the film is the great Fred Melamed as the honey-toned usurper Ableman.
A Serious Man may never reach the heights of previous Coen masterworks such as Barton
Fink or The Big Lebowski, but this is still cerebral entertainment of the highest order. Larry's miseries are never fully explained (a family curse may be the cause) but the moral is clear: Never expect rational behavior from an inherently irrational universe. That's pretty deep for a (supposed) comedy. But then comedy, as the Coens fully understand, has always been a rather serious business.
LANDON MCDONALD
music review // THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - 'THE LIFE OF THE KJHK's weekly guide to sonic consumption. WORLD TO COME' (4AD)
Sixteen albums. John Darnielle has recorded 16 full albums under the Mountain Goats name. (Plus one unreleased album!) Something gives me the feeling that the sun will implode before he runs out of material.
If you haven't listened to the older stuff, it sounds like it was recorded on a shitty boombox in a basement, mostly because, well, it was.
The tracks on The Life of the World to Come, however, are recorded with a full drum kit and decent production values, which personally I like a lot less.
Darnielle is a master lyricist, and to me it seems like the shitty boombox amplified his message, while a drum kit and electric guitar seem to dilute it. Something about the low-fi basis of his music made it raw and easily accessible. Any one of us could be that guy sitting in his basement, writing music that changes lives. The hi-fi music seems to put him on an unattainable base, where not just anyone can be that guy.
The good stuff is still there, you just have to search for it a little harder. Despite all the track titles being named after bible verses, the album isn't really religious, and Darnielle lets his heart shine through yet again.
// LOGAN NICKELS,
KJHK STATION MANAGER
AND ROTATION DJ
music review // LIGHTNING BOLT — 'EARTHLY DELIGHTS' KJHK's weekly guide to sonic consumption. (LOAD RECORDS)
Lightening Bolt—damn, what a fitting name for such a shocking band. These guys are not messing around.
Consisting of just two members, Brain Bibson, who plays bass, and Gripp Gippenchale on drums, there is nothing empty about their sound. Gippenchale's fast-tempo drumming will make any headache you already have go numb, and Bibson's insanely fuzzy distorted bass will bring a smile to your face if you're feeling angry. Feedback from the bass is thrown at your face pretty much non-stop and it feels great. It may sound like your speakers are blown out, but chances are it's just all that wonderful distortion.
I can't say I've ever heard music this noisy before which A) impresses me and B) intrigues me and makes me wonder how much noisier music can get. This kind of music is not for everyone and I'm warning you right now, your face might be a little melted after listening ... that is, if you survive. Mwahaha!
★★★ ★ //ADAM RYDELL, KJHK
ROTATION DJ