Director
Joel and Ethan Coen
Leading Actors/Actresses
Michael Stuhlbarg
Supporting Actors/Actresses
Richard Kind, Fred Melamed, Sari Lennick, Aaron Wolff, Jessica McManus, and Peter Breitmayer
Genre
Black Comedy/Drama
Language
Primarily English with small bits of Hebrew and Yiddish
Awards
Nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Film and Best Original Screenplay
Date of Release
October 2th, 2009
Producer
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Setting and Context
The prologue takes place in a 19th-century Eastern European Shtetl. The rest of the film takes place in 1967 in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.
Narrator and Point of View
Larry Gopnik
Tone and Mood
Genial, Funny, Triumphant, Suspicious/Paranoid, High-Energy, and Sad/Solemn
Protagonist and Antagonist
Larry Gopnik is the protagonist; there are a number of possible antagonists (since some audience members may think God is the antagonist, others may think Larry's son is the antagonist, etc.).
Major Conflict
Larry's struggle to repair his professional life and reinvigorate and fix his personal life while he deals with questions of faith.
Climax
When Larry gives in and changes his student's grade from an F to a C.
Foreshadowing
Larry finally giving in and changing the grade from an F to a C is foreshadowed by an ongoing set of attempts present in the film.
Understatement
The transformative effect of the Jewish religion is understated.
Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques
N/A
Allusions
The Coen's Burn After Reading (2008), the Jewish religion, the Bible, the history of the United States (1960's Minnesota, preferably), F Troop (the 1965 TV Series), Fargo (the Coen's film and subsequent TV Series), and geography.
Paradox
The 19th-century set prologue of the film occupies a fair amount of screen time but is only ever mentioned once.
Parallelism
The Book of Job.
