Coen Bros: A Serious Man part 3
Enter Clive.
Clive is a student in Larry Gopnik’s physics class. Clive has failed a recent test. He wants Larry to raise his grade so that he can pass the class, otherwise he will lose his scholarship. At first blush, it seems that Clive’s suit is without merit — he failed the test, he deserves what he gets.
Coen Bros: A Serious Man part 2
After the Eastern-European parable that precedes the titles, A Serious Man shifts it focus to Danny Gopnik. The Coens literally put us inside Danny’s head, tunneling outward toward the tiny speaker stuck in his ear.
Coen Bros: A Serious Man part 1
I’ve received many comments from people who didn’t like the Coen Bros’ A Serious Man because it has “a passive protagonist.”
Well, interesting that folks should bring that up. A Serious Man challenges the protagonist question in a way I’ve never seen a movie do before, and it’s not just idle observation, it’s built into the structure of the entire movie. Because A Serious Man does not have a passive protagonist, it has a very active protagonist. A very active — and very powerful — protagonist.
Unless, of course, it does not. Which is exactly where the mystery lies.
Let me explain.
Favorite screenplays: Bambi part 4
Without ceremony or warning, Bambi must leave his mother lost in the snow and go off — somewhere — with his father. Wherever he goes off with his father, whatever he learns there, Disney withholds. The trauma of Bambi’s break with his mother lasts only a moment before it is spring.
Favorite screenplays: Bambi part 3
Summer turns to fall, and fall, for no stated reason, gets glossed over in a rush of colored leaves and turns to winter. Bambi is still tiny, still a child in this world where the rules constantly shift. Every time Bambi thinks he’s got the world figured out, no matter how cautious is his step forward, the world immediately slaps him down, changes the rules, makes him a baby again.
Favorite screenplays: Bambi part 2
Spring turns to summer, and Bambi’s mother takes him to The Meadow. On the way, the still-tiny Bambi informs his mother that they "are not the only deer in the forest." So the first section of Bambi is about Bambi meeting other animals, but the second section is about Bambi meeting his peers — other deer. It’s about how Bambi begins to learn his place in society.
Favorite screenplays: Bambi part 1
We start in a forest. And not just any forest. A dark, gorgeous, ancient-growth, primeval forest. This forest, we can see, has been around forever, untouched. The untouched quality is important: this is not the realm of civilization, this is the realm of nature.
Favorite screenplays: Bambi
I shouldn’t even be talking about Bambi here.
Check this out: Bambi is 70 minutes long, has only one clearly-defined act break, and has a protagonist who is not only passive, but who wants nothing definable or concrete. It has no visible antagonist and absolutely, positively, not the slightest rumor of a plot. It breaks every rule regarding what a compelling cinematic narrative is supposed to be.
Tarantino on Maddow
For those who enjoyed my Inglourious Basterds analysis, you may also enjoy seeing Tarantino interviewed by Rachel Maddow.