The official site for the Coen brothers’ latest movie, A Serious Man, is now live. You can check it out here. There isn’t much to it at the moment…

Interestingly Focus Features has reposted its A Serious Man glossary this time adding in quotes direct from the movie itself to better illustrate the use of the words. I think this movie may be tough to follow first time around…

Agunah (pronounced “ahgoonah”) – a divorced person who has not been religiously sanctioned to remarry.
As in when Judy says, “Without a Gett I’m an Agunah.”

Bar mitzvah – Jewish religion’s important ceremony, held in a synagogue for a young man who has come of age (at 13) and will now be responsible for practicing and upholding Jewish values, morals, and traditions; female equivalent (at 12 or 13) is a bat mitzvah.
As in when Larry says, “But I’m so strapped for cash right now—carrying the mortgage and paying for the Jolly Roger, and I wrecked the car and Danny’s bar mitzvah coming up…”

Bupkes (also spelled bupkis) – nothing; applied with great emphasis.
As in when Arthur says, “You’ve got a family. You’ve got a job. Hashem hasn’t given mebupkes.”

Chacham (also spelled chakham, hakham or haham) – a wise or learned man, usually a great Torahscholar.
As in when the Man says, “You know, Reb Groshkover! Pesel Bunim’s uncle! The chachamfrom Lodz, who studied under the Zohar reb in Krakow!”

Dybbuk (pronounced “dibbuck”) – The soul of a dead person, often looking to possess a live person and as such inspiring fear among the living.
As in when Reb Groshkover says, “I shaved hastily this morning and missed a bit—by you this makes me a dybbuk?”

Gett – ref., agunah (above); a religiously sanctioned divorce, tandemed with the sanction to remarry.
As in when Judy says, “Esther is dead three years. And it was a loveless marriage. Sy wants a Gett.”

Goy – colloquial term for a person not of the Jewish faith (i.e., a Gentile)
As in when Rabbi Nachtner says, “Do you know a goy named Kraus? Russel Kraus?”

Haftorah – Portions of the Hebrew Bible read aloud in synagogue services, including by a bar mitzvahboy.
As in when Larry says, “How’s the haftorah coming? Can you maybe use the hi-fi?”

Hashem – means The Name, and is basic Hebrew term/name used for God.
As in when Rabbi Scott says, “I too have had the feeling of losing track of Hashem, which is the problem here. I too have forgotten how to see Him in the world.”

Kabballah (also spelled caballah or cabala) – an interpretation of the Scriptures based on an oral tradition that supposedly began with Abraham.
As in when Rabbi Nachtner says, “But Sussman is an educated man. Not the world’s greatest sage, maybe, no Rabbi Marshak, but he knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah.”

Macher (pronounced “mohhcc-er”) – an achiever, a person of importance/influence.

Mazel tov! (pronounced “mozzle-tov!”) – Congratulations!
As in when the Doctor says, “Well, mazel tov. They grow up fast, don’t they?”

Mensch (pronounced “mensh”) – someone with strength of character/an applied sense of purpose.

Mitzvah – good deedor blessing, though mostly used in an everyday and non-religious context.
As in when Reb Groshkover says, “One does a mitzvah and this is the thanks one gets?”

Nu?– What’s up? What’s the story here?
As in when the Principal says, “Hmm… eh… nu?”

Rabbi (pronounced “rab-eye”) – Ordained Jewish religious scholar/teacher, often relied upon as community leader.
As in when Judy says, “I have begged you to see the Rabbi.”

Reb – Formal-address equivalent of Mister.
As in when the Man says, “I assure you, Reb Groshkover, it’s nothing personal; she heard a story you had died, three years ago, at Pesel Bunim’s house.”

Shabbas (or, shabbos, from Shabbat) – Judaism’s Sabbath, from Friday evening through Saturday evening
As in when Rabbi Nachtner says, “Danny Gopnik, the Sisterhood makes a gift to you of this kiddush cup so that you will remember this blessed day on the next shabbas and the next, and on every shabbas of a long and fruitful life…”

Shtetl (pronounced “shtet-el”) – a small Jewish village, in bygone times, in Eastern Europe.

Shiva – means seven, and also refers to the participatory seven-day mourning period for the recently deceased.
As in when the Wife says, “Traitle Groshkover died of typhus in Pesel Bunim’s house. Pesel told me—she sat shiva for him.”

Shul – a synagogue and its congregation.
As in when Rabbi Scott says, “Because with the right perspective you can see the Hashem, you know, reaching into the world. He is in the world, not just in shul.”

Synagogue (pronounced “sinagog”) – a Jewish house of worship.

Torah – the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures, transcribed onto a scroll for use in synagogueservices including a bar mitzvah.
As in when Rabbi Nachtner says, “Is the answer in Caballah? In Torah? Or is there even a question?”

Zohar – the main text of Kabbalah, the Zohar is a mystical interpretation of the Torah.
As in when Rabbi Nachtner says, “He knows a thing or two from the Zohar and the Caballah.”

Focus Features have issued a press release outlining their 2009 slate. Included in said press release was their synopsis for the Coen brothers forthcoming slice of 60’s Jewish life, A Serious Man…

“Academy Award-winning writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen’s A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith (Sari Lennick) that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous colleagues, Sy Ableman (Fred Melamed), who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur (Richard Kind) is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny (Aaron Wolf) is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah (Jessica McManus) is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. While his wife and Sy Ableman blithely make new domestic arrangements, and his brother becomes more and more of a burden, an anonymous hostile letter-writer is trying to sabotage Larry’s chances for tenure at the university. Also, a graduate student seems to be trying to bribe him for a passing grade while at the same time threatening to sue him for defamation. Plus, the beautiful woman next door torments him by sunbathing nude. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man? Filmed on location in Minnesota for Focus and Working Title Films, A Serious Man will open in limited release on October 2nd.”

Carter Burwell has once again produced the goods for a Coen brothers movie. He started his collaboration with the Coens with their debut Blood Simple and has worked on every one of their movies since. His score for Burn After Reading is available to buy now on Lakeshore Records on old fashioned CD from stores and also from iTunes and Amazon Digital. Also available on iTunes is an album called Gym Music from Burn After Reading which would appear to be Chad’s workout music.

Filmfocus.com (the website for Focus Features) has an interview with Burwell where he discusses his approach to working with the Coens and his score for their latest movie. Here’s a pertinent quote;

Since the characters [in Burn After Reading] thought they were in a spy movie, Carter Burwell thought the composer should be equally deluded. “I liked the idea that the composer is as deluded as the characters so that his soundtrack fits the movie the characters think they are in, rather than the actual film we are watching.”

His long relationship with the Coens, however, gives his collaborations with them a special quality. Their relationship “makes it easy for a couple of reasons,” explains Burwell. “There is a lot of trust on both sides. They know I’ll finish and get my job done, and they’ll give me the time to try out different things. And I don’t worry that they’ll overreact if I play them something radical. When you are talking about [the relationship between] music and cinema, there isn’t a completely perfect, established language, but ours is as good as it’s going to get. Another big difference when [working with the Coens] is that we don’t worry about the opinions of other people. It’s rare that we sit around and think, what will the producer or the audience think of this? We are mostly trying to make a movie that we think is good and that will entertain us. And then, of course, we hope that other people will think it’s good too.”