IMDB 7.6
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Jack's Rating :
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No one does style like the Coen Brothers and this is their fourth venture in to the world of noir. They did Blood Simple (1984), Miller's Crossing (1990), The Big Lebowski (1998), and now this movie, The Man Who Wasn't There.
The movie opens with the camera focused on a barber's pole and the names of the actors come on the screen and their shadows are cast on the swirling stripes of the pole. The movie was shot in color and then transferred to black and white. Roger Deakins was nominated for an Academy Award foe his cinematography.
The movie starts with a voice over: "Yeah I worked in a barber shop, but I never considered myself a barber." Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thorton) had married in to the trade, and didn't own the business. We can tell in the first few minutes of the film that this is noir and that Ed is going to be in big trouble.
Ed's wife is Doris (Frances McDormand) and they have her boss, Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini) and his wife over for dinner. Doris laughs at all of Big Dave's jokes.
When a customer, Creighton Tolliver, tells Ed about a new process, dry cleaning, that he could make a fortune with if he can get some money. Ed later goes to Creighton and tells him he can get a hold of the $10,000.
Ed writes an anonymous blackmail note to Big Dave threatening to tell what he know about the affair Big Dave was having with Doris. He asks for $10,000.
Big Dave tells Ed that he is being blackmailed, and that his wife will take the store, and he will be out of a job, if she finds out. Big Dave tells Ed that he knows the blackmailer, and says it is Creighton Tolliver, who had just asked him for $10,000 as an investment. Since he wouldn't give it to him, he thinks Creighton is black mailing him.
Big Dave follows the instructions and makes the payoff. Ed now has the money to give to Creighton to become a partner in his new dry cleaning business.
When Big Dave finds out it was Ed who set him up, he confronts him and then beats him up. As he is being choked to death, Ed stabs Big Dave in the neck and kills him.
Detectives then show up at the barber shop and tell Ed that his wife has been arrested for the death of Big Dave.
Doris hangs herself before she goes to trial, and Ed goes on with his life. Ed later gets arrested for the murder of Creighton, when they find the $10,000 and Ed's contract along with Creighton's beaten body which was found in a lake. In the tradition of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Ed gets punished, but for the wrong crime.
The movie moves a long at a very leisurely pace. It has been criticized by some critics for taking too long to tell it's story, but I think it was just wonderful. It wasn't just a movie that was paying homage to film noir, it was a beautifully crafted film noir, made in 2001.
Quotes:
The movie starts with a voice over: "Yeah I worked in a barber shop, but I never considered myself a barber." Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thorton) had married in to the trade, and didn't own the business. We can tell in the first few minutes of the film that this is noir and that Ed is going to be in big trouble.
Ed's wife is Doris (Frances McDormand) and they have her boss, Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini) and his wife over for dinner. Doris laughs at all of Big Dave's jokes.
When a customer, Creighton Tolliver, tells Ed about a new process, dry cleaning, that he could make a fortune with if he can get some money. Ed later goes to Creighton and tells him he can get a hold of the $10,000.
Ed writes an anonymous blackmail note to Big Dave threatening to tell what he know about the affair Big Dave was having with Doris. He asks for $10,000.
Big Dave tells Ed that he is being blackmailed, and that his wife will take the store, and he will be out of a job, if she finds out. Big Dave tells Ed that he knows the blackmailer, and says it is Creighton Tolliver, who had just asked him for $10,000 as an investment. Since he wouldn't give it to him, he thinks Creighton is black mailing him.
Big Dave follows the instructions and makes the payoff. Ed now has the money to give to Creighton to become a partner in his new dry cleaning business.
When Big Dave finds out it was Ed who set him up, he confronts him and then beats him up. As he is being choked to death, Ed stabs Big Dave in the neck and kills him.
Detectives then show up at the barber shop and tell Ed that his wife has been arrested for the death of Big Dave.
Doris hangs herself before she goes to trial, and Ed goes on with his life. Ed later gets arrested for the murder of Creighton, when they find the $10,000 and Ed's contract along with Creighton's beaten body which was found in a lake. In the tradition of The Postman Always Rings Twice, Ed gets punished, but for the wrong crime.
The movie moves a long at a very leisurely pace. It has been criticized by some critics for taking too long to tell it's story, but I think it was just wonderful. It wasn't just a movie that was paying homage to film noir, it was a beautifully crafted film noir, made in 2001.
Quotes:
Ed Crane: He told them to look not at the facts, but at the meaning of the facts. Then he said the facts had no meaning.
Reidenschneider: The more you look, the less you really know. It's a fact, a true fact. In a way, it's the only fact there is.
Ed Crane: Life has dealt me some bum cards. Or maybe I just haven't played 'em right, I don't know.
Ed Crane: [after reminiscing about their first date] It was only a couple weeks later she suggested getting married. I said, "Don't you want to get to know me more?" She said, "Why? Does it get better?" She looked at me like I was a dope, which I never really minded from her. And she had a point, I guess. We knew each other as well then as now. Anyway, well enough.
Ed Crane: I don't know where I'm being taken. I don't know what I'll find, beyond the earth and sky. But I'm not afraid to go. Maybe the things I don't understand will be clearer there, like when a fog blows away. Maybe Doris will be there. And maybe there I can tell her all those things they don't have words for here.
Ed Crane: Time slows down right before an accident, and I had time to think about things. I thought about what an undertaker had told me once - that your hair keeps growing, for a while anyway, after you die, and then it stops. I thought, "What keeps it growing? Is it like a plant in soil? What goes out of the soil? The soul? And when does the hair realize that it's gone?"
Ed Crane: I was a ghost. I didn't see anyone. No one saw me. I was the barber.
Ed Crane: It's like pulling away from the maze. While you're in the maze, you go through willy nilly, turning where you think you have to turn; banging into the dead ends. One thing after another. But you get some distance on it, and all those twists and turns, why, they're the shape of your life. It's hard to explain. But seeing it whole gives you some peace.
Reidenschneider: No talking out of school. What's out of school? Everything's out of school. I do the talking. You keep your trap shut. I'm an attorney. You're a barber. You don't know anything.