The Man Who Wasn’t There | Review

Without question the Coen brothers are probably among the best filmmakers of my generation, mavericks in their own right, they have directed great cinema in the likes of Fargo, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink. Their style of filmmaking, their forever-memorable characters and for their mesmerizing and sometimes brain-teasing scenarios, clearly since their inception into film history with the brilliant Blood Simple; that these two are among a class of their own with their own. The Man Who Wasn’t There a black and white film-noir inspired feature bucks the trend of the colorized flick for a more authentic look for such an era as the 40’s barbershop America. Like O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen’s sense of style and visual flair is center point to the film. In this case, the sense of style is augmented by the richness of noir-ish filmic devices-especially in terms of lighting-the use of shadowing and shading on the characters (e.g. The way the character is lit in a confined space or when the character walks into the open space of a room) or with inanimate objects. Popular film-noir effects such as the jail bars on a character- are visible in this film and act as a kind of foreshadowing for the possible denouement of circumstances for the characters. The overall result is a texture and an attention that emphasizes the shapes and tones common to classic film noir examples such as the opening sequence of Maltese Falcon and some of the sequences found in Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt. However, this film does not contain enough of the film-noir elements to merit it being classified as part of this specific genre. The cinematography as always is the usual Coen standard quality with the Roger Deakins at the helm.

The Coens employ a deliberate slow pace to the film, utilizing the first cool and then annoying voice-over narration of Billy Bob Thornton who speaks in a monotone voice-true to the character itself. Billy Bob Thornton as Ed Crane delivers a solid performance while the rest of the cast seems to easily disappear from focus. This film moves slowly, very slowly, -sometimes with the flow of the images, sometimes by the text within the images and most of the time by the unfolding of a narrative (a narrative that does not do much to generate an acceptable level of interest). The slow pace also matches the thought process of our anti-hero/protagonist; there are some really nice shots/close-ups of his facial expressions especially when he takes a drag on one of his cigarettes. I liked the a la Coen shot of the car thrown threw the air (reminiscent of the flying rooftops of O Brother, Where Art Thou?) but I question the bits about alien talk and the piano prodigy, which seem to do very little for the narrative. Despite some nice eye-candy (I liked the sequence where he describes the different types of haircuts), the film comes-off as a little flat.I got to give credit where credit is due…..the Coens brothers filmography proves that you can be among the giants of the movie industry and still maintain your artistic integrity, with an attitude that sometimes gives an embracing middle finger towards Hollywood. For me, The Man Who Wasn’t There is a disappointment by Coen standards, but I will most likely remember this project as being an audacious piece, which when compared to the rest of the junk that is being offered is worth noticing.

Rating 3 stars