Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) by Libero S — 23 Jan 2015

The Man Who Wasn't There is a visual stunning picture with an extremely talented cast. I believe The Man Who Wasn't there is the most impressive Coen's picture to date, the characters are interesting and although simplistic, the story follows barber Ed Crane, a man who is un-satisfied with his life, finds out his wife,Doris (Frances McDormand) is being unfaithful to him with her boss Big Dave Brewster(Gandolfini) in a calm manner Ed Crane exacts his revenge by blackmailing Big Dave anonymously demanding $10,000 so Ed can invest the money in a business venture with Creighton Tolliver. Following in Coen tradition, everything takes a turn for the worse.

The performances in the film are just magnificent, not one member of the cast didn't deliver a good performance, especially Thornton, Gandolfini, McDormand and Shalhoub as the Crane's lawyer. Thornton's performance is outstanding, at no point in the film does he vocally speak his discontent, his classic conservative attitude makes Ed Crane a memorable character to me because he represents the times when men were men, Ed is the the strong silent type.

The film's cinematography is undeniably the greatest feature in this masterpiece, The Man Who Wasn't There really captures the essence of film noir, the film has a distinct sombre tone which is very reminiscent of classic pictures from the 1940's.

UFO's are present throughout the film, whether they actually mean anything is up to interpretation but I found them to be quite intriguing, personally I believe the Coen brothers just threw them in to add some mystery to the movie but nethertheless, in this instance the use of UFO's were welcomed.

Overall, the acting is top class (especially the performances of Thornton and Gandolfini), the cinematography is visually stunning, the plot is simplistic but works well. The Man Who Wasn't there is the best Coen picture I have seen as of yet, easily one of the best films I have seen.

Would I recommend: Absolutely.