The Man Who Wasn't There | | Cast : | Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand | | Director : | Ethan Coen, Joel Coen | | Studio : | Universal Studios Ho | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | June 01, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 11, 2005 | | Summary | Weak By Coen Brothers Standards | Content
 | Weak by Coen Brothers standards still means considerably better than average. It has great technical moments like the sequence where Thornton fills the screen in a contemplative pose as his voice-over plays over a Beethoven piano solo. After a few seconds the camera pulls back and you see Johansson playing the piano in the foreground.
Apparently this was shot on color film and desaturated in post-production because the shadows and contrasts are not really up to film noir standards.
The script is not particularly clever and the Coen's rely on two gimmicks to make it more interesting; the irony of the criss cross as the two men are credited with each other's crime and the barber's basic invisibility to everyone (which makes him the title character-"The Man Who Wasn't There").
Unfortunately the desire to wring the last ounce of irony out of the story is responsible for a cobbled on final ten minutes. This is totally lame and extends the movie beyond the car accident, a better ending that actually made for better irony. They should have gone out on the spinning hubcap. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 09, 2005 | | Summary | Gloomy chronicle about a man without collective importance! | Content
| If there was even a particle of doubt about the craftsmanship, the huge talent and the portent of these two acclaimed directors, this film would dissipate it.
This work became not only one of the best films of this year, but it was considered almost automatically a cult movie, and constituted the best entry of the Film Noir genre since Road to Perdition.
Plenty of singular details, with a prodigious camera handle, magnificent photography, a splendid cast, and an increasing suspense script, this artwork focuses around the minuscule world of an insignificant man, a barber who is cheated twice; in his personal honor and financially. Both failures are extremely linked and will work out as wrenches and existential crossroad that will wait for him at the end of the road.
He is a quite introspective man a misogyny who watches the world go round. His decisions and life project are clearly determined by others, so he is simply a leaf beaten by the wind an instrument of his extremely closed social circle.
It's convenient to remark the presence of an invisible character: Beethoven's piano music. In this sense every time Scarlet plays the piano, there is a allusive and clear reference between Patetique, Appassionata, Moonlight and The Sonata No. 32 that underline , (specially this late one who accents the dissolution final process of Ed Crane) and besides the intimate mood of our main character. So beware, if you are not yet familiarized with the spirit of every one of these works, you can loose important suggestive clues.
Billy Bob Thornton makes an impressive performance as well as Frances Mac Dormand, the consented actress of Coen Brothers - Blood simple and Fargo - .
I recommend specially this work, because to my mind it has been absolutely neglected by the critics and the great audiences.
Extraordinary.
|
| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | Coen's Film Noir Falls Flat | Content
| I had high hopes during the opening shots of this film. The black and white film-noir feel was intriguing. It visually interested me...but my interest quickly waned. The character of Ed Crane, a barber who blackmails his wife's lover so he can invest the money with a guy with a bad toupee, narrates the film in a very monotone manner which almost lulled me to sleep. The pacing of the movie was painfully slow and the dialogue was uninspired, which is highly disappointing coming from the Coens. Alot of acting talent, such as Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Tony Shaloub and James Gandolfini, went to waste in this picture. The tone of the film was flat and subdued. This is the weakest of the Coen brothers films. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | A Twisting Turnpike. | Content
| From the first glimpse of the main character's barbershop, this film takes off with the complexity of Beethoven's Pathetique, which is featured heavily throughout. This is a period piece with a plot that encircles and expands over the course of every passing five minute segment. I was surprised repeatedly, and can honestly say that I was not fully certain as to how it would end until the credits rolled.
Overall, the acting is superb. Shalhoub is just as exquisite in his role as defense attorney as he was playing the producer in Barton Fink. His "Uncertainty Principle" defense is hilarious and frighteningly believable as a method in which lawyers occasionally cleanse their clients of guilt. Billy Bob Thornton's performance appears effortless as he manages to be disengaged and endearing at the same time. Gandolfini is good as Big Dave, although the character is not far removed from the one that made him famous, Tony Soprano.
This is yet another magnificent effort from the Coen brothers. They have repaid fans like me countless times in the past for our interest and they do not disappoint here. Nobody produces better film noir or challenges their viewers intellectually like the fraternal duo. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 19, 2005 | | Summary | Film Noir: Coens style | Content
| "The Man who wasn't there" is yet another great addition to the Coen brothers list of movies, always differing in style the Coens chose this time to make a noir film shot in black and white and greatly succedded. As usual the script, directing and acting are fantastic. Billy Bob Thornton was very good at playing Ed Crane, the barber who decided to end his boring life and try something new only to end up in disaster. As in the other Coens movies there are so many twists and turns that they will make your head spin and this one is no different. Recommended for fans of film noir, the Coens brothers, and independent film. My rating 9/10. |
|
Picture 01 (20)
