Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6144 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-04-22
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
With The Man Who Wasn't There the Coen brothers--those ironic geniuses of left-field bizarre--have pulled off another side-swerve into the unexpected. A movie "about a hairdresser who wants to become a dry-cleaner" as the brothers gleefully claim to have pitched it, it's set in 1949 in the small Northern California town of Santa Rosa (venue for Hitchcock's 1943 classic Shadow of a Doubt) and filmed in lustrous, deep-shadowy black-and-white--an affectionate, though never slavish, tribute to the great era of film noir.

Not only in its austere monochrome but in its tone, it comes as a total contrast to the Coens' previous film, the cheerfully picaresque O Brother, Where Art Thou?. Though they toss in plenty of surreal gags, including a whole running thread about flying saucers (this is Roswell-era America, after all), the overall mood is quiet, reflective and even--something quite new for the Coens--compassionate. Their protagonist, barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton, proving himself one of the great chameleon actors of our time), is a man trapped by his own impassivity--inside him, a seething mass of emotion that he's utterly unable to express. In true Coen style, his frustration leads him into a fatal move that spirals disastrously out of control.

Thornton is ably supported by a whole gallery of Coen regulars--Frances McDormand, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub--plus James Gandolfini (The Sopranos) and an amazingly assured turn from Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World). The dialogue, as you'd expect, is masterly, while the brothers' regular collaborators Director of Photography Roger Deakins and production designer Dennis Gassner work wonders of period evocation, and Carter Burwell contributes a haunting score.

On the DVD: The Man Who Wasn't There comes to DVD in a sharp, clean 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that captures all the depth and subtlety of Deakins' superb photography, impeccably matched by the crystal-clear Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. A lavish helping of extras includes a trailer and two TV spots, stills photo gallery, filmographies, a 16-minute "making of" featurette, an overlong (47 minutes) interview with Deakins, a batch of deleted scenes, and best of all, the voice-over commentary. This gives us not just Joel and Ethan, but Billy Bob as well, chatting and chortling and clearly enjoying every second of the movie they've made. Their enthusiasm is irresistible. –-Philip Kemp

DVD Description
DVD Special Features:

Commentary with Billy Bob Thornton and Joel & Ethan Coen
Interview with Cinematographer Roger Deakins
A "making-of" documentary
Deleted scenes
Filmographies
Behind-the-scenes photo gallery, trailer & TV spots
16:9 anamorphic widescreen transfer (aspect ratio 1.85:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound

Synopsis
The Coen brothers' THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE is a brilliantly photographed black-and-white absurdist noir set in Santa Rosa, California, in 1949. Ed Crane (the outstanding Billy Bob Thornton) is a slow-moving, barely talking barber who doesn't seem to want much out of life. He has virtually no relationship with his wife, Doris (Frances McDormand), who has more fun with her boss, Big Dave (James Gandolfini). But when a strange character (Jon Polito) lets it be known that he's looking for a silent partner to finance his dream business (something he calls dry cleaning), Ed sees a possible way out of his doldrums. Just like any good James M. Cain novel (which the Coens cited as a major influence on the story), blackmail, deceit, violence, murder, and double crossing ensue, all with the magic Coen twists and turns.
THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE looks simply magnificent; the cinematography, the outfits, and the set designs perfectly capture this intriguing post-WWII paranoid world embodied by misfits, cheats, simpletons, con men, and other ne'er-do-wells. Thornton, who also supplies the wonderfully droll narration, gives a bravura performance as Ed, the everyman who has never strayed from the straight and narrow--until now. Always with a Chesterfield in his mouth, he wanders from scene to scene almost as if he's a spectator--even though he's at the center of everything that goes on. The supporting cast, as usual in a Coen brothers film, is outstanding, including McDormand, Gandolfini, Polito, Tony Shalhoub, Richard Jenkins, and Scarlett Johansson as a young potential piano prodigy.

Customer Reviews

they don't make 'em like they used to... or do they?
Having not really seen any Coen Brothers films previously I was really not too sure what to expect of this neo-noir vehicle of theirs. However, ten minutes into viewing it I realised that this was somehow different to any other film I'd seen before from recent years. I thought it would be a pretentious and manipulative film merely ripping off the old classics under the pretence of homage and art but it is far from that. This beautifully staged, costumed and atmospheric film in icy black and white has a gripping, intelligent plot and a central character who seems so vacuous and unemotional and bored in his suburban life that things turn fantastically dark at a quick, clean pace.

The plot begins reasonably simple (as do the characters), a blackmail attempt on Billy Bob Thornton's part to finance an investment into dry cleaning. However, things soon become very complex and demanding when murder, incorrect indictment and other such things inundate the picture. But still Thornton's character drifts his way through his troubles and offers occasionally inspiring lines of wisdom and the blandly imparted but true philosophies of his life. His boredom and his alienation makes him a dislikeable but trustworthy narrator for such a dark film.

'The man who wasn't there' is a very artful, quietly knowing film, lined with the malignant, full of twists, at times surreal and funny and a film that moves at its own pace to its grim and moving conclusion. It has the basis of a simple film about dissatisfaction from the forties and it investigates the problems with 'surburban boredom' and the darker and more murderous side of resolving this. A very clever film.

The domino effect
Ed's a barber. He doesn't say much. He's bored - or would be if he could be arsed. He has no ambition until a couple of events coincide and coalesce into a glimmer of hope for a bit of a change: first, he thinks there are clear signs that his wife and her boss are having an affair and that bothers him a little and second, a man comes in for a haircut and plants the seed of an idea for a venture capital investment. He hasn't actually got any spare cash but there is someone he can blackmail. It's a simple plan. What could go wrong? ... everything goes wrong. A cascade of unforeseen consequences follow and his world comes tumbling down. It's a disaster.

I first came across this film after I'd tracked down one of my favourite films, "The Hudsucker Proxy". Unbelievably that film isn't available in an unbundled state for Region 2 DVD players. So, disgusted and defeated, I had to buy a whole box of films called "The Coen Brothers' Collection" because it happened to have "The Hudsucker Proxy" in it. It was like a happy accident. There were three other films in the box that I probably wouldn't have watched if I hadn't had to buy the lot in order to get the one film I wanted. "The Man Who Wasn't There" wasn't in the box but after I'd watched those films, I looked for more Coen Brothers' films and found this. A couple of days after the first time I watched it, I was driving home after an exceptionally awful day at work, feeling grim and grumpy and, in an effort to relax and stop grinding my teeth, I started thinking about some of my favourite parts of this film. By half way home I was laughing.

The story is dark, occasionally weird and (if you share the Coen sense of humour) very funny. The acting is just about perfect and the black and white photography is gorgeous. It has all the elements of a favourite film. Highly recommended.

Ultimate Acting - Depressing, But Worth It
Once again, the Coen Brothers have crafted an exquisite period story on film. Following up on the sepia tone of "O Brother..." the look of this film is darker with more a distinct range of black and white hard edges and shadows, rather than simply a grey patina. It fits the mood, which centers around a simple barber (Billy Bob Thronton) in 1940's Santa Rosa, California, his somewhat antsy wife (Frances McDormand) and a local merchant who may be a crook (James Gandolfini). Simply put (and it's not), it tells the tale of a man who just wants a little bit more out of life and the price he has to pay. Thornton is good as the man with little to say and McDormand is brilliant as the unhappy wife who bites off a little more than she can chew. The Coen Brothers always throw in valuable side characters to intensify the drama and give a wilder spin to the story. I won't reveal any more of the plot, but suffice it to say, it's full of twists and surprises. Brilliant performances are had by every actor (check out the sleazy little salesman who barters with Thorton - "wink"). Besides being a fun story, paced just right, the look is fantastic, as usual. It seems the Coen's frame each shot as if it were meant to be an 8 X 10.