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    • BLU-RAY REVIEW

    Serious Man, A

    Featured In Issue 147, March/April 2010

    Picture3.5
    Sound3.5
    WSR Score2.5
    Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
    (Studio/Distributor):
    Universal Studios Home Entertainment
    (Catalog Number):
    62106375
    (MPAA Rating):
    R
    (Rating Reason):
    Language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence
    (Retail Price):
    $36.98
    (Disc Type):
    Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
    (Widescreen Edition):
    Yes
    (Full Screen Edition):
    No
    (Running Time In Minutes):
    106
    (Color Type):
    Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access):
    Yes
    (Closed Captioned):
    Yes
    (Regional Coding):
    Not Indicated
    (Theatrical Year):
    2009
    (Theatrical Release):
    Yes
    (Direct-To-Video Release):
    No
    (Disc Release Date):
    02/09/10
    (THX® Digitally Mastered):
    No
    (Director):
    Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
    (Screenplay/Written By):
    (Story):
    (Music):
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer):
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor):
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers):
    (Co-Producers):
    (Producers):
    (Academy Awards):
    (Principal Photography):
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
    (Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
    (Disc Soundtrack):
    DTS HD Lossless 5.1, DTS 5.1
    (Theatrical Sound):
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (DTS Bit Rate):
    (Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
    (Additional Languages):
    (French Language):
    (Spanish Language):
    (Chinese Language):
    (Subtitles):
    (Cantonese Language):
    (Mandarin Language):
    (Japanese Language):
    (Italian Language):
    (German Language):
    (Portuguese Language):

    A Serious Man is about one ordinary man's quest to become a serious man. Physics Professor Larry Gopnik (Stuhlbarg) can't believe his life: his wife is leaving him for his best friend, his unemployed brother won't move off the couch, someone is threatening his career, his kids are a mystery, and his neighbor is tormenting him by sunbathing nude. Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family, delinquent behavior, and mortality. (Gary Reber)

    Special features include the featurette Becoming Serious (HD 17:04), Creating 1967 in Minneapolis neighborhoods (HD 13:43), a Hebrew And Yiddish For Goys dictionary (HD 02:14), and BD-Live functionality.

    The 1080p AVC picture is undistinguished and rather dull in appearance, with a bland color palette. While hues appear generally natural, the look is "tired" and uninvolving. Fleshtones are generally accurate, as is the color pallette. It's just that the imagery is mostly mundane. Contrast, at times, is a bit pushed to excessive brightness, yet blacks are deep and solid, and shadow delineation is generally good. At times the picture looks well balanced and vividly rendered, but overall the picture quality is inconsistent. Perhaps this is the intent, but the overall experience is drab and uninteresting. Resolution is soft as well, especially in the backgrounds. This is an unimpressive and undistinguished picture. (Gary Reber)

    The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is a bore as well, and essentially a monaural focus, with splashes of rock music. Surround envelopment is limited to the intermittent music, which is aggressively enveloping. Dialogue is intelligible throughout but sounds forward and sterile. At best, the soundstage widens a bit, and occasionally the sound is dynamically energized. In a drug-related scene, the .1 LFE channel is effectively energized with deep, extended bass. But overall, this is an undistinguished soundtrack. (Gary Reber)

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    Dan Zucker
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