If you thought being Japanese is hard work, try the Jewish life for a taste of something gut-wrenching — or so implies "A Serious Man," created by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Unlike Woody Allen, the Coen Brothers ("No Country for Old Men," "Fargo," "The Big Lebowski," "Burn After Reading" to name a few) have never drawn on their Jewish heritage in a big way; but "A Serious Man" beats Allen at his own game, then goes far beyond, pitching the story into an abyss of deep, dark despair.
Self-deprecation is not a strong enough term to describe the rock-hard derision that both defines and suffocates the story like a mean old crocodile, refusing to budge. And as the Coens trot out one more unattractive sample of what they perceive as the Jewish condition after another, we stare in fascinated horror and fidget with discomfort.