After 30 years of filmmaking, Joel and Ethan Coen were destined to make some duds and smaller gems that fly just under the radar of the general public. Fargo, True Grit, No Country For Old Men, The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? have gone down as beloved movies already. But they have a whole group of lesser known, unassuming great films on their resume. One of them is the 2001 noir The Man Who Wasn’t There.
The film stars the perfectly-cast Billy Bob Thornton as Ed Crane, a barber who doesn’t talk much. His wife is the hard-drinking Doris (Frances McDormand) and he’s stuck working at the barber shop in Santa Rosa, California owned by his brother-in-law Frank (Michael Badalucco). One day, a customer comes in with the kooky idea of opening up a dry cleaners, but needs a $1,000 investment. Ed sees this as a way out of his dull life, so he blackmails his wife’s boss, Big Dave (James Gandolfini) because he knows they are having an affair.
Of course, nothing goes right. Big Dave is murdered, Doris is blamed and the business partner runs off with the money. Ed is back at square one, especially after his dream to help the young pianist Birdy Abundas (Scarlett Johansson) doesn’t pan out.
If the Coen Brothers’ feature debut Blood Simple had the duo using noir to hone their craft, The Man Who Wasn’t There has the brothers returning to the genre to leave a permanent stamp on it. This is a movie that could have been made in 1941 and not just because of its black and white cinematography by Roger Deakins or the near-religious following of noir tropes. It’s because the cast just looks like they stepped out of 1940’s cinema.
Thornton plays the low-key sap role to perfection. He has to dominate the picture, even though he’s playing a character who would rather slink into the background. Somehow, he keeps our eyes glued on him and his droll narration keeps us interested.
Even though no one else in the film has as much screentime as Thornton, their performances are still memorable. Just like any Coen Brothers movie or traditional noir, character actors chew their scenes and enjoy the way the script tastes. Tony Shalhoub is hilarious and biting as the over-priced attorney who can’t even believe the truth because he’s so used to turning facts into lies. Gandolfini plays a very against-type role at first, but then gets to show what he can really do later on. And Jon Polito, who appeared in Miller’s Crossing and Barton Fink, is perfectly slimy as con man investor.
While this is a noir, it is also a Coen film, which means that it has to take a complete left turn just before we think we know the ending. It’s an ending that proves life can never be as perfect or as exciting as you want it to be. You can either give up, like Ed eventually does, or try a different path. It also proves that no matter how it happens, what you did wrong will probably catch up to you.
It’s easy to see why The Man Who Wasn’t There hasn’t been remembered as well as it should be, despite earning acclaim at the time of its release. Fans of the Coen Brothers might like it, but the movie is cold and painfully pessimistic. There’s a reason why noir films aren’t made very often today. Sure, there might be a message about trying to get out of your own bubble, but things almost never go according to plan and the result is rarely positive. But if you know how to make a noir - like the Coens do when they want to - all that dreariness can make for an incredible film.
The Man Who Wasn’t There was only nominated for a single Academy Award: Best Cinematography for Deakins’ often breathtaking compositions. (Only he can make a prison cell look so interesting.) The Coens shared the Best Director prize at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival with David Lynch, who was there with Mulholland Dr.
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