Jun 13, 2015 Gotcha, I definitely get what you're saying now. I would agree on all three points. The only distinction I'd make is that in A Serious Man, the notions of Jewish identity and an indifferent universe (a theme prevalent in much of their work and also at the forefront of No Country for Old Men), are very much the text in its Job-like story while they're somewhat secondary in Barton Fink to the artistic crisis, something, as you noted, also personal to the Coens. In its way, Inside Llewyn Davis could almost be considered a blend of the two, as it also features a down-on-his-luck protagonist who undergoes a series of setbacks and indignities, but also an artist who is at the crossroads of his career (not to mention the film's touches of surrealism during the road trip). Another commonality between the two is that A Serious Man and Barton Fink have two incredible closing shots, arguably their two finest.
