Dir: Joel Coen. Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Jon Polito.
The release of a new Coen Brother’s film has always been an event for me, and a reasonably expensive London trip to the cinema has always been somewhat inevitable. But they’re worth it though, every time, as a Coen Brother’s film has so far never disappointed. But more than that, it’s intrigued, it’s shocked, surprised, and always, always, entertained.
If you’ve never seen any of their work, then you’ve missed out on eight (and now nine) of the best movies ever made. Full stop. Their work has always been visually invigorating, the scripts bitingly intelligent, and subject matter always inventive. That ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ is their worst movie yet shouldn’t suggest that it’s anyway bad though, infact it’s superb. It just never quite reaches the heights attained by their previous work.
Strongest when dealing with comedic events, at least in this critic’s view, The Man Who Wasn’t There is nowhere near as absorbing or as surprising as most of their films, and while it’s closest in tone to their first, Blood Simple, it lacks that film’s darker edges. Which isn’t to say that it’s any way disappointing, it’s just quite not what you may expect, especially if you’ve only seen their last two pictures, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Big Lebowski.
Shot moodily (and always beautifully) in black and white, and set in the late forties, whilst this moving thriller isn’t as unconventional as most of The Coen Brother’s
Billy Bob Thornton makes for a strangely blank leading man, Ed Crane, who seems to only find peace in silence or music, and the perpetual cigarette that’s always hanging from his fingers. The deep, gravely narrative voice he provides is clearly a victim of over 40 fags a day, but suits the subject matter, and tone, of the film perfectly.
Crane’s all too aware of what grates in life, but suffers quietly until chance offers him a financial opportunity and change. He’s undoubtedly a good man placed in difficult circumstances, and accepts each twist and turn with quiet dignity, and it’s only when a friend’s teenage daughter attempts to fellate him do we see any real emotion, and then that is only shock. Everyone else is fine, as per usual, but no one bar Thornton really shines – Frances McDormand and James Gandolfini are both effective but neither given enough screentime to become truly memorable, and it’s really Billy Bob’s movie.
The main problem I had with the film is the coldness of it’s tone, which lead to a lack of sympathy for any of the characters, bar, perhaps Crane at times, and the slowness of pace. But these are minor criticisms, and when compared to the majority of film’s released this year, it truly is a great film. It just wasn’t quite the event that a Coen’s release usually is.
Alex Finch.
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