The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

...I at least remember what the plot is. One thing I could remember about it was that it was directed by the Coen brothers, and although I have watched one or two bad Coen films, they are generally pretty good. So I decided to give it another try. Thank goodness I did. I'm not sure whether I was drunk the first time I watched it or what, but this is a film that I really enjoyed and thought had some superb performances. The plot Ed Crane is a barber ...
...a barber; he fell into the job after marrying his wife, whose father owned a barber shop. His life should be good, but there is something missing and his wife, Doris, is having an affair with her boss. When Ed is given the opportunity to invest some money in an enterprise, he is determined to raise the money. His first port of call is his wife's boss, Big Dave, whom he successfully blackmails to the tune of $10,000. All seems to be going swimmingly; ...

sunmeilan 15.11.2006 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

The Man Who Wasn’t There is a tale of murder, mystery, tragedy and above all else hairdressing. Billy Bob Thornton plays Ed Crane, a barber who is a man of very few words. He spends his days cutting hair and listening instead of talking. He observes the world with a burning cigarette pressed between his lips while his brother in law (Michael Badalucco) talks about anything and everything. Meanwhile at home he has a strange empty marriage to ...
...the local department store manager Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini). One day he is cutting the hair of a salesman Creighton Tolliver (Jon Polito) who sells him on the idea of a new business venture called Dry Cleaning. All that is needed is $10,000 to watch the money roll right in and start up a franchise. Ed blackmails Big Dave for the money by anonymously threatening to expose his affair. However what happens is something Ed could not have ...

utero 12.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

The Coen Brothers come up with another cult classic. Most definitely a must-see for fans of film noir. Roger Deakins (director of photography) gives the look of the film added depth by shooting it on colour negative and printing in black and white. With lingering, shadowy and perfectly framed scenes, this looks so good that you can forgive the slow pace. There's a brevity of plot and meandering aspect, but the delicious, mood-lit and angular aesthetics ...
...a convincing late 1940s, the story centres on and is narrated by the character Ed Crane, played by Billy Bob Thornton. He's an insignificant suburban barber, who doesn't say much and has ambitions to improve his life. His lush wife, played by Frances McDormand (also stars in many Coen films, most notably Fargo, and is married to Joel Coen), is having an affair with a family friend and he knows this. When a visitor to the Barber Shop tells him of ...

faithbuck 06.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

The Coen brothers latest effort has been billed as a film noir. Shot beautifully in black and white, The Man Who Wasn't There pays tribute to a number of older film noir classics. Written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand and James Gandolfini this film does not dissapoint. The storyline is typically bizarre. There is an affair, some blackmail, a touch of murder and some legal manoeuvring. ...
...Ed Crane played by Thornton. The guy seems disconnected from the world, emotionally detached and deeply unhappy. His wife is also having problems with life which she deals with by assuming a tough as nails persona. Ed is a barber, he works with the loudmouth brother of his wife, played by Badalucco. He feels unsatisfied with his life and sees a variety of ways to improve it, to potentially escape from daily mundanity. The story soons becomes quite ...

setimerenptah 07.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

...a reworking of Homer’s Odyssey. The Big Lebowski? A tribute to those old Philip Marlowe flicks. Fargo? Blood Simple. Would one be right in assuming that the Coen Brothers have run out of original ideas? The answer is The Man Who Wasn’t There. Well actually the answer is no, but you were with me, right? Right?!@# ~~~ The Plot (sans spoilers) Billy-Bob Thornton (Armageddon), plays Ed Crane, a barber who is quite content with keeping ...
...getting a 10% discount at the store she works at, and possibly having an affair with her boss Dave (James Gandolfini from True Romance). Ed’s routine existence is disturbed by a bolshy wig-wearing customer who waltzes into the barbers one day with fancy talk of setting up a dry cleaning business. Ed is taken by this notion, and comes up with a simple plan to blackmail Dave for $10,000 – the amount he needs to become a partner in the dry ...

peppersinclaire 14.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

Well this is the film the critics have singled out to rave about as they do once a month, but this time they were justified. Written, directed and produced by the Coen brothers Joel and Ethan who continue to create superb, convention defying films such as their earlier hits; Fargo, The Big Lebowski and Millers Crossing. The Man Who Wasn’t There can certainly be added to their list of successes as they prove yet again how damn good they are ...
...well used, and it sets the scene perfectly. The star is Billy Bob Thornton as Ed a barber in a small forties town, he is married to Frances McDormand who plays Doris and is married to Joel Coen in real life. It is a reasonably small cast with Michael Badalucco co starring as Frank and James Gandolfini as Big Dave. At 116 minutes it is quite long and requires your focused attention throughout, sometimes it rambles and patience is needed, but on the ...

willgould 06.11.2001 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)

The Coen Brothers films are always superb to watch and have very quirky plots - this one you’ll be glad to hear is no different. The story is of Ed Crane, a barber who works in a small American town in the 40’s. Ed meets a customer who tells him of the money to be made in dry cleaning. To raise some finance, Ed blackmails the local department store owner, Big Dave, the man his wife is having an affair with, for $10,000. Everything looks okay until ...
...out that Ed is the blackmailer. Subsequently the two men get in a scuffle and Big Dave is killed. However Doris, Ed’s wife, is taken in for the murder and soon everything is going wrong for Ed. As Joel Coen won best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival you would expect the direction to be superb and indeed it is. The film is shot in black and white and this enhances its ‘film noir’ quality. There are several resemblances to other Coen ...

nickkelly 31.03.2003 · Read full review
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Review of The Man Who Wasn't There (DVD)