Ed Crane leads a simple life as a
barber in 1950s small town America. He does not have much aspiration for
anything more. He believes his wife is cheating on him with her boss, but does
not much care. One day he hears about an exciting new opportunity: Dry
Cleaning. Suddenly, he thinks: “Why not me?” To get the money for the
opportunity, he blackmail’s his wife’s boss, threatening exposure of his
affair; however, this sets off a chain-reaction of terrible events.
The Man Who Wasn’t There is one
of the lesser known film from the Coen
Brothers; but, it is one of their best. They work with their usually
collaborators on the film, including: composer Carter Burwell,
cinematographer Roger
Deakins (whose photography is astounding), and production designer Dennis Gassner.
The film features a great cast
made up mostly of Coen Brothers’ regulars. Billy Bob
Thornton stars, while Frances McDormand,
Michael
Badalucco, James
Gandolfini, Jon
Polito, Scarlett
Johansson, Richard
Jenkins, and Tony Shalhoub
feature in support.
The Coen Brothers are best known
for films like Fargo, The Big
Lebowski, No
Country for Old Men, and more recently True Grit.
The Man Who Wasn’t There is certainly among their lesser known films, if not
completely forgotten among most fans. Like many of their films, The Man Who
Wasn’t There is a weird blending of genres. It looks and feels like a noir,
hard-boiled detective film, but the story is much more restrained than what is
typically found in the genre. The film could be called a crime drama, but Ed
Crane just sort of bumbles his way forward. In some ways, it is a comedy
satirizing the hard-boiled detective noir style; yet, it is also in love with
the genre too, stylistically speaking. The Coen Brothers and Roger Deakins shot
the film in color and then processed it in black & white (in some countries
you can actually see the film in color). It is fantastically photographed. The
cinematography is easily among the decade’s very best. The film is a must-see
just for the cinematography alone. The wry wit too is wonderful. The film is
devilishly funny. I think it is well worth watching for fans of the Coen
Brothers and those who enjoy the noir genre, as this is an odd and surprising entry.
Trailer: Here
