Michael Stuhlbarg in the Coen Brothers' tragi-comedy. (Handout)

A Serious Man, the Coen Brothers’ film that so nimbly talked its way into the best picture Oscar race, could just as easily be titled Oy Vey, Circa 1967!

It is the story of a mid-western American university professor who, like the Biblical figure Job, is beset by misfortunes. His wife wants a divorce. Her new lover is an obsequious buffoon. Our hero’s son is a stoner hurtling towards his bar mitzvah. His neighbour is an anti-Semite. His university tenure is iffy. Everything in the period tale is enhanced by his religion: Judaism. Both funny and poignant, this tragi-comic drama explores how one man endures the mortal coil and searches for elusive answers. Michael Stuhlbarg is sheer subtle brilliance in the lead role.

On Tuesday, A Serious Man debuts on DVD and Blu-ray. It is the first major nominee to roll out on home entertainment since last week’s Academy Awards nominations. The timing is impeccable. While A Serious Man is not expected to rival the juggernaut competition of Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker — and the Coens are unlikely to repeat their No Country for Old Men triumph — A Serious Man needs the attention. The film generated just $21.7 million in worldwide boxoffice. Cinema of this quality and depth deserves a better fate.

The Oscar noms show who benefits from new rules that allow 10 best picture nominees instead of the five that have been the norm since the 1944 Oscars. It is clear that A Serious Man is one that would not have made the cut without expansion, even if it is deserving. It is not a major player. It earned only one other nom: Joel and Ethan Coen were jointly nominated in the best original screenplay category (not for co-directing).

There is only one other best picture nominee with just one other nom. It is The Blind Side, a lightly regarded sports movie which should win one Oscar in a popularity contest: Sandra Bullock as best actress.

So the expansion of the best picture roster spreads the wealth around. A Serious Man is one of 38 feature films with at least one Oscar nomination. That makes the 5,777 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences indecisive. But I still like embracing A Serious Man. If waffling in a major category is the only way to do it, so be it.

Meanwhile, the DVD and Blu-ray editions are interesting. They share exactly the same extras and they are a revelation when it comes to the renegade Coens.

These masterful filmmakers are charming guys, but terrible interviews for those of us who have followed their careers since A Blood Simple. Lovable but elusive artists, they usually hem, haw, mumble and deflect questions.

Not this time, though. There are keen insights to be gleaned. Especially in one of the three featurettes, Becoming Serious. Extras specialist Colleen A. Benn and her team caught the Coens in a joint interview that produced a more articulate, open discussion of what they were doing. The personal connection is made, even though the film is not specifically autobiographical. The Coens were born and bred in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They are representatives of the historical anomaly, “Jews on the plains,” in the words of Ethan Coen. The film was all shot in Minnesota locations, including Minneapolis.

The most intriguing part of the interview comes when the Coens discuss how A Serious Man started as an idea for a short film about a stoner bar mitzvah boy, and then segued into a more comprehensive drama about a man facing his personal demons.

I will leave you to discover how and what they say about A Serious Man. But their star, Stuhlbarg, calls the two Coens “smart, gentle and quite Zen!” Mazel tov!