Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Man Who Wasn't There

The neo-noir. It's a favorite genre of mine. (Hell, I just like crime films in general.) Anyone who can depict a good criminal case can get my interest.

Joel Coen's The Man Who Wasn't There is one film. However, it isn't just about a little felony like murder. It's more about the mundane life of small town suburbia. (Well, what else do you expect from the Coen brothers?)

It's interesting seeing our protagonist Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) doing something most experienced criminals treat as a skill: getting away with a crime. Here is someone with the plainest of jobs (a barber), and he is somehow able to get away with the most serious of crimes. But that's the Coen brothers' quirk for you.

The cast is quite good. Along with Thornton, the names include Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini and Scarlett Johansson. They're all great, but Thornton who reigns supreme among them.

The Man Who Wasn't There is quite good though it's probably not among the top three of the Coen brothers' films. (It's still entertaining though.) That cinematography by Roger Deakins is basically a film junkie's wet dream. (How the fuck does he not have an Oscar yet?) Still, it's worth a look.

My Rating: ****1/2

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