Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) by Aaron N — 19 Apr 2008

Ed Crane: Me, I don't talk much... I just cut the hair.

A film done in the style of noir about a Barber, it's from the Coen Brothers and it stars Billy Bob Thorton, what's not to like.

The whole movie is played throughout with narration by Billy Bob, who talks and talks about life basically.

A blackmailing plot ensues, involving Frances McDormand as the barber's wife, and James Gandolfini as her boss. This prompts other events to turn up in the story, including the appearance of Tony Shalhoub as a hot shot lawyer.

Reidenschneider: You say he was being blackmailed, by who? You don't know. For having an affair, with who? You don't know. Did anyone else know about it? Probably not, you don't know.

Another subplot also emerges, that features Scarlett Johansson as a local girl with talent at the piano.

Ed Crane: Time slows down right before an accident, and I had time to think about things. I thought about what an undertaker had told me once - that your hair keeps growing, for a while anyway, after you die, and then it stops. I thought, "What keeps it growing? Is it like a plant in soil? What goes out of the soil? The soul? And when does the hair realize that it's gone?".

The movie looks great, capturing the time of the 1940s, shown in black and white. Other little Coenisms show up including the casting and of course the dialog, making this an entertaining noir about a simple man.

Ed Crane: He told them to look not at the facts, but at the meaning of the facts. Then he said the facts had no meaning.