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Editorial Review:
With The Man Who Wasn't There the Coen brothers--those ironic geniuses of left-field bizarre--have pulled off another side-swerve into the unexpected. A movie "about a hairdresser who wants to become a dry-cleaner" as the brothers gleefully claim to have pitched it, it's set in 1949 in the small Northern California town of Santa Rosa (venue for Hitchcock's 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt) and filmed in lustrous, deep-shadowy black-and-white--an affectionate, though never slavish, tribute to the great era of film noir.
Not only in its austere monochrome but in its tone, it comes as a total contrast to the Coens' previous film, the cheerfully picaresque O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Though they toss in plenty of surreal gags, including a whole running thread about flying saucers (this is Roswell-era America, after all), the overall mood is quiet, reflective and even--something quite new for the Coens--compassionate. Their protagonist, barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton, proving himself one of the great chameleon actors of our time), is a man trapped by his own impassivity--inside him, a seething mass of emotion that he's utterly unable to express. In true Coen style, his frustration leads him into a fatal move that spirals disastrously out of control.
Thornton is ably supported by a whole gallery of Coen regulars--Frances McDormand, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub--plus James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and an amazingly assured turn from Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World). The dialogue, as you'd expect, is masterly, while the brothers' regular collaborators Director of Photography Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner work wonders of period evocation, and Carter Burwell contributes a haunting score.
On the DVD:The Man Who Wasn't There comes to DVD in a sharp, clean 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that captures all the depth and subtlety of Deakins' superb photography, impeccably matched by the crystal-clear Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. A lavish helping of extras includes a trailer and two TV spots, stills photo gallery, filmographies, a 16-minute "making of" featurette, an overlong (47 minutes) interview with Deakins, a batch of deleted scenes, and best of all, the voice-over commentary. This gives us not just Joel and Ethan, but Billy Bob as well, chatting and chortling and clearly enjoying every second of the movie they've made. Their enthusiasm is irresistible. –-Philip Kemp
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Lovingly crafted work of pure genius 'The closer you look, the less you see', remarks the brilliantly Jewish lawyer in this film. Some have said the same about the typical Coen film script, but when it comes as multi-layered and intricate as this, as well as being shot in sublime film noir photography, who cares if the philosophy might not be as deep as it first appears? And every performance here is a delight, from the aforementioned sophisitic genius of a laywer who yet has to admit that this murder plot 'makes his head hurt', to the... more info
a lacklustre Coen movie...well there's a thing! The Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan, both of whom write, produce and direct this movie) have made some great films (Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, Fargo, Millers Crossing) and one or two not so good (the Hudsucker Proxy and their pointless retreading of the Ealing classic the Ladykillers spring to mind). However, it's a rare thing to find a Coen film that falls somewhere between these two points, but this is exactly where we find ourselves with the Man Who Wasn't There.
Billy Bob Thornton plays Ed... more info
great I got this on the basis of the title and that's it. I've not been too impressed in general by the Coen Brothers and can't understand what the fuss is about The Big Lebrowski. Anyhoo this film has a great atmosphere built up with lovely visuals and an enigmatic anti-hero. Its all well acted and the story is very entertaining.
Clever but contrived I just wanted to add a note of caution - I'm a fan of both the Coen Brother's work and Film Noir but felt let down by this production.
I hate to agree with Jonathan Ross about the weak story development, but the plot is constructed to suit the film rather than vice versa and as a whole it enables a stunning tribute to a past era of film making, with superb acting direction and cinematography, but I was left feeling somehow empty, having watched a contrived pastiche or hamage rather than a film which... more info
