As all Cohen brother movies, this is an original gem. Quite poetic. This is one of
the movies which grow on you. There is so much material. The 6 tales were written by the
brothers themselves. There is also quite a bit of math. The movie is quite violent,
as also the initial ``counting off" of the fingers illustrates. The mirror tale mirrors
an old riddle in physics:
how does the mirror turn left and right but not up and down. Time for reflection!
The chicken scene is brutal too. The chicken will replace the poor guy without arms and
legs who recites Lincoln. Well, math is stronger than poetry! As the mathematician Hardy told once
"Archimedes will be remembered when Aeschylus is forgotten, because languages die
and mathematical ideas do not." I have never seen this tied to this movie but if knows the Cohen
brothers, it is almost certain that they might have had this Hardy quote
in mind. In other movies, cultural references come in .
The "serious man" is essentially a tale about the uncertainty principle
in quantum mechanics, the "O Brother" movie is based on the Odyssee; the Lebowski story
is a serious detective riddle.