Film 45

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Director: Joel Coen

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

Up next we have another Coen brothers film (just the way the queue worked out, nothing intentional), which I was pleasantly surprised to realize after viewing Barton Fink. With The Man Who Wasn't There, we again have an ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances. However, after viewing The Man Who Wasn't There, I would like to add to my initial comment about this seemingly common theme in Coen brothers films and say that it also seems common that the ordinary man caused his extraordinary circumstance. More on this in a separate, yet unwritten, document.

Ed Crane is someone who I can certainly identify with. Very quiet while also very astute, Ed goes about life with the general malaise of one who just doesn't find anything exciting. He longs for something to excite him, to take his life in somewhere other than what he feels is stagnation.

----Interesting enough, as I completed that last paragraph, my media library shuffled to the song "How Fortunate the Man With None" by Dead Can Dance. A rather appropriate tune to listen to while writing a commentary for this film.----------

To explain anything further about the plot would be, in a sense, to give it away. Let me just say that, through it all, we still see the general malaise within Ed and, though he seems to take interest in a couple things, it almost seems as though he were grasping on to the last bit of fire he had within himself - the reality being that he had written it off long ago.

A very excellent character piece and one that I certainly recommend.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 5/5. This category may well have received a 4, had the brilliance of the acting category not added to it.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. Par for Joel Coen's course - a beautiful grayscale piece.

Overall Acting: 5/5. Everyone in this film did an outstanding job - Tony Shalhoub most of all.

Score/Soundtrack: 5/5. I won't say it. I shouldn't have to by now.

OVERALL RATING: 5/5

~Fentablar~