The Man Who Wasn't There

Based on a screenplay by the Coen brothers (Joel & Ethan) and brought to the screen by them both with Ethan unaccredited and directors credits going to Joel Coen, with troupe of Coen regulars acting out numerous parts, you would expect... Full review

Besides being great stuff for film maniacs who like to debate the technical aspects, the cinematography or the artistic ideas and influences in it, 'The Man Who Wasn't There' is also a great film. One of my all-time favorites. The... Full review

Joel and Ethan Coen return to their roots in this tale of a quiet man who sets off a series of events that send his entire world crashing to earth. Frances McDormand in her best role since "Fargo"! Billy Bob Thornton... Full review

Noir has always been about people caught in circumstances where there seems to be no way out and one bad decision may spawn a series of events that eventually catch up with the people involved.In this story, Ed Crane (Billy... Full review

I haven't seen too many films by the Coen brothers(Ethan and Joel Coen)... in fact, this and Intolerable Cruelty are the only ones I've seen. I decided to see this after hearing many positive things about it, and finding out... Full review

Ed Crane is a barber who quietly wants more from his life. When he meets a man with a business proposition he decides to go for it. He suspects his wife is having an affair with her boss and anonymously... Full review

I'm sorry, but I like my black and white black and white - ESPECIALLY in a film that sets out to be the most pure film noir of all. The shadows should be, simply, black, not black tinted with dark... Full review

Billy Bob Thornton has the perfect face for film noir. His craggy, drawn features lead up to sunken but large and staring eyes, and cheeks that look to be made out of plaster. Particularly when shot in black and white,... Full review

What a difference a good director makes! Billy Bob Thornton, who was sadly misused in Bandits, gets to recover himself in his brilliant characterization of Ed Crane in this film directed by Joel Coen. His performance is so detailed and... Full review

Joel and Ethan Coens' The Man Who Wasn't There doesn't (how could it) top their first film-noir classic Blood Simple, but it is still an incredibly stylish and acted with pizazz type of film which should definitely get better with... Full review

The writing is good and the characters are great. Thornton was delighted to be offered the role: "I actually said yes to the movie before I read the script. We really thought that he would be perfect for the part," says Joel. ... Full Review

But, perhaps thanks to Thornton and McDormand, who bring startling levels of repressed feeling to their seemingly taciturn roles, this is also a sad film. And "The Man Who Wasn't There" is obviously the work of writers who know Camus as well as Cain, and who also know the reasons why film noir today is considered art and not trash. ... Full Review

The Man Who Wasn't There may not be as immediately engaging as the Coens' other movies --....The Man Who Wasn't There is awfully short on animal desperation.... ... Full Review

All in all, though, "The Man Who Wasn't There" is a nicely layered, thought provoking experience. The only shortcomings of the film arise from some minor lags in the middle and the occasionally heavy-handed direction. ... Full Review

Mr. Thornton, however, manages to give Ed Crane a joyless smolder that makes him sympathetic and ironically memorable. Best of all though is Tony Shaloub as the arrogant, boisterous attorney Freddy Riedenschneider. ... Full Review

This film was written and directed by the Coen brothers, "The Man Who Wasn't There" is a crime drama shot in black and white to emphasize its 1940s film-noire roots. ... Full Article

The host then tried to ask the star about his musical influences as a child, but the star instead gave a response about how he used to subscribe to a monster magazine and entered its model monster contest. ... Full Article

There was no traditional Hollywood hangover after a spectacularly under-whelming Golden Globes failed to generate much excitement and even fewer parties. In contrast to the usual champagne-flowing extravaganzas attended by stars done up in the finest fashions, the only Golden... ... Full Article

In April of 2003, monologist Spalding Gray walked into the sea at Bridgehampton , fully dressed, then walked back out again, disoriented. It was one in a series of despondent acts that were growing more severe in the wake of... ... Full Article

There are different ways a director can disappear from public consciousness.He can release films so infrequently that for long periods of time people forget he's alive (Terence Malick). ... Full Article

TIE 10. THE MAN WHO WASNT THERE dir. Joel Coen 10. MULHOLLAND DRIVE dir. David Lynch I hope you like your film noir good and strange, because thats how two of the most iconoclastic filmmakers in modern American cinema were ... Full Article