collected writings

The Man Who Wasn't There

The Bozeman Film Festival kicks off its spring series with a rare film, rare because it approaches the film medium as art and not just a clever way of making money, rarer still because it was produced well within the Hollywood system. The Man Who Wasn't There , by Joel and Ethan Coen ( O Brother, Where Art Thou ) represents the power of cinema, what it can accomplish when near-perfect, and how many stories there are to tell.

The Man Who Wasn't There is most simply a noir in the same vein of James M. Cain's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice , but to call it simple is to deny what the Coens do best. Their attention to detail is always masterful, and this film is no exception. The beautiful black and white imagery by Roger Deakins, a frequent collaborator with the Coen brothers, is flawless. The play between the light and dark portions of the frame, punctuated by the ever-present cigarette smoke, is simply mesmerizing.

Billy Bob Thornton stars as the typical noir "hero," Ed Crane, a quiet second chair barber who moves through life as slowly and timidly as a man who, well, wasn't there. Thornton, like everything else in this film, is perfect. He has few lines, aside from his dry, dry narration...in which the world could come to an end, and he would report it objectively as such.

Ed is married to Doris, played by Francis McDormand. He thinks that he suspects that she might be having an affair with her boss, as definite an opinion that he has the ability to express, albeit by simply smoking another cigarette. Film nourish plot devices follow; people die, Doris ends up in jail, and there are the expected twists upon twists upon twists.

Nobody has ever accused the Coens of making incredibly realistic film. Their attention to details, in the direction, dialog, even the pronunciation of words all help to create a world for what it is, abstract, absurd, even surreal at moments, but not real. It is an original style, and the Coens take plenty of time in The Man Who Wasn't There to play with it. The pacing of the film mirrors Ed's acting, slow, sluggishly quiet, and beautiful. Some people do not like the Coen brother's style, and the slow pacing of this particular film is not going to change their minds. If you didn't care for some of the Coen's other similar films, Fargo , Blood Simple , and Miller's Crossing most notably, then you probably will not enjoy this film...but that does not mean you should not see it anyway.

The Coen brothers do not simply stick to one genre and make movies. They make up genres. They reinvent movies. The Man Who Wasn't There is no exception. Expect to see Academy Award nominations for Thornton's acting, Deakins' cinematography, and perhaps a best original screenplay nod as well.