Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) by Dan K — 12 Jun 2012

Although this film is pretty predicable (if you've seen a Coen film or two) you have to admit it's very well crafted, beautifully shot, good writing, and very strong acting all around. Although I've seen ratings describe Billy Bob Thorton's performance as "emotionally distant" I think that's what they were going for, the whole time it seems like he's just been through some shitty trauma and can't believe what just happened (which as the story progresses about sums it up perfectly) which is strangely very appealing to watch, I felt sorry for his character from the beginning and yeah he makes some poor decisions but they were all made in attempt to better his already shitty situation.

What I really liked about this film's "shit happens" story that I dislike about other Coen films is that they actually had the character learn from it and just the fact Billy Bob Thorton recognizes "well this is where I went wrong" in the epilogue seems to assign a lot more meaning to the hap-hazard events & story unlike the other Coen films I've seen.