As good a film as I've seen this year.
Comment
11/07/07
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
80 %
Reviews Counted: 149 Fresh: 119 Rotten:30 Average Rating: 7/10
Consensus:
Stylish but emotionally distant, TMWWT is a clever tribute to the noir genre.
Runtime: 1 hr 56 mins
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... [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Michael Badalucco, Katherine Borowitz
Reviews
Slowly paced for a thriller and with a hero many will find off-putting, this is nevertheless a gripping, unusual and challenging work from the most consistently brilliant filmmakers of the last decade.
12/30/06
Top Critic
In this the Coens' sly script is helped no end by Billy Bob Thornton's supremely eloquent performance as the taciturn tonsor, lent terrific support from Frances McDormand as the wife.
06/24/06
Top Critic
A perfectly executed illustration of what is not, quite, great about the Coen brothers, which is a kind of grandstanding, and another kind of weirdly alienating insincerity.
10/19/03
Top Critic
Stunning photography, terrific performances from a note-perfect cast, and a wonderful, dryly-comic script. One of the best films of the year.
10/30/02
It's impossible to guess what the Coen brothers will come up with next, and little could prepare us for this offbeat 1940s noir drama shot in full period style. But it's a complete and utter triumph.
12/10/01
The movie itself is a stylish piece of work, shot in black and white with odd, captivating atmosphere and production design; it's kind of a cross between a 1940s film noir and a satire of banal 1950s America.
11/25/01
A unique, peculiar, riveting experience, The Man Who Wasn't There is one of the best films of the year.
10/08/01
Top Critic Top Critic
The film holds the interest, to be sure, but more due to the sure sense of craft and precise effect that one expects from the Coens than from genuine involvement in the story.
11/07/07
Top Critic
Joel and Ethan Coen stay true to their bent for dense heroes and neonoir, and to their unshakable conviction that life usually turns out to be splendidly horrific.
11/07/07
Thornton does wonders within the tabula rasa of words and gestures he's limited to.
09/27/07
Despite the movie's humor and sense of irony, it takes on a sense of somberness as it progresses.
07/21/05
It's perfectly, elegantly reticent about its subject matter, as suits both the theme and the tradition of film noir (a type of filmmaking that thrives on unstated motives).
03/03/05
You've heard of a 'vacant stare'; now you know what it's like for the person staring.
12/06/04
Thornton's ultra low key performance is a plus, as is the effectively moody, black and white cinematography.
10/30/04
Once again, Ethan and Joel Coen have twisted a film genre into something new.
06/23/04
Joel and Ethan Coen have created an excellent film that intelligent audiences should really appreciate.
02/24/04
Makes people wish they could still light up in cinemas. It might not be the Coens at their best, but they still blow smoke in the faces of all the competition.
05/22/03
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