You know how you feel when everyone is in on the joke but you?  That’s how I felt about A Serious Man, the latest film from the talented Coen brothers (most recently known for the Oscar winning No Country For Old Men). Dubbed their first “Jewish” film, this movie begins with a Yiddish parable about a dybbuk.

So you don’t know what a “dybbuk” is? Neither did I, because I’m not Jewish. The film doesn’t tell you what that word means, I had to go look it up later.  I’m not going to go so far as to say you won’t enjoy the movie if you are not Jewish, but I think you will have an inherently better understanding and appreciation for the movie. I found it frustrating that the Coen brothers seem to take at face value that you know all about Jewish traditions and mannerisms, and I felt a little left out.

I admire the fact that the prolific brothers clearly wrote this film as an homage to their Jewish roots, and I got the sense that there was definitely a biographical component to the film. Essentially, this is a modern-day retelling of the Book of Job, which is one of the books of the Hebrew bible.

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The newest film from the Coen brothers, A Serious Man, has just hit the internet with it’s first trailer, and it’s already got lots of folks excited. Set in the 1960s, A Serious Man is the story of a man’s life unraveling after his wife decides to leave him because of his deadbeat brother.

Several sources are calling this “trailer of the year” and I’d have to agree. While I don’t quite know what to make of this movie yet, the trailer is edited put together quite well, and we hope that the film will follow in style and innovation.

Written, directed, and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen, the sibling team behind Raising Arizona and No Country for Old Men, the film stars Michael Stuhlbarg (Body of Lies), Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory), Richard Kind (Spin City), and Adam Arkin (Life).

A Serious Man hits theaters October 9th and you can check out the trailer right after the jump.

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