The Man Who Wasn't There is the Coen Brothers homage to that great novel by James M. Cain and the film made from it, The Postman Always Rings Twice. A homage mind you with a considerable influence from their Oscar winning Fargo.
I loved the cinematography in black and white done deliberately I think to show the drabness in these rather ordinary people's lives. With one exception these are most ordinary folks.
Billy Bob Thornton is the most ordinary of the lot. He's a barber, a guy you probably don't think too much about when you're not getting a haircut. For a barber he's a quiet sort of guy, not at all like the one he shares the barbershop with, Michael Badalucco, who's like most barbers I've ever come across, can make with a non-stop stream of small talk just to make your's and his time pass.
Thornton's not talking because he's got a lot on his mind. His wife, Frances McDormand, is having an affair with her boss, James Gandolfini who is married to the heiress of the town's department store, Katherine Borwitz. McDormand does the books for the department store.
Into the barbershop one day comes Jon Polito who's obviously a con man, obvious to everyone, but Thornton. Polito is trying to interest someone, anyone in some get rich quick scheme. In fact he tried to interest Gandolfini who wouldn't give him the time of day.
Like Fargo's luckless Bill Macy, Thornton hatches a wild scheme to get $10,000.00 to invest with Polito by blackmailing Gandolfini and making him think it was Polito doing the blackmail. And like Fargo it ends with a few people dying before the film is over.
The Man Who Wasn't There got one Oscar nomination for cinematography, I think it should have gotten some more. The Coen brothers expanded considerably on some of the themes raised in Fargo and Joel Coen as director got pluperfect performances from his cast.
I said before that there was one non-ordinary character brought into this film. That would be criminal defense attorney Tony Shalhoub who's hired to defend one cast member here. For those of you who know him primarily for Monk, this is quite a different Shalhoub. Give him credit for not wanting to be typecast as Adrian Monk.
Jon Polito's character is gay and he's by no means is he any kind of a good human being. He's a stereotypically gay person as would have been seen by most people in the homophobic world of 1949 when this film is set. He is one of the characters who dies in this film and the authorities don't get it right. Polito more than likely died due to homophobia back then, than for the reason they think he was killed.
This is film is a worthy followup to Fargo, in some ways better than Fargo. As for how it all turns out, that's where the Coen brothers homage to The Postman Always Rings Twice comes in.
I loved the cinematography in black and white done deliberately I think to show the drabness in these rather ordinary people's lives. With one exception these are most ordinary folks.
Billy Bob Thornton is the most ordinary of the lot. He's a barber, a guy you probably don't think too much about when you're not getting a haircut. For a barber he's a quiet sort of guy, not at all like the one he shares the barbershop with, Michael Badalucco, who's like most barbers I've ever come across, can make with a non-stop stream of small talk just to make your's and his time pass.
Thornton's not talking because he's got a lot on his mind. His wife, Frances McDormand, is having an affair with her boss, James Gandolfini who is married to the heiress of the town's department store, Katherine Borwitz. McDormand does the books for the department store.
Into the barbershop one day comes Jon Polito who's obviously a con man, obvious to everyone, but Thornton. Polito is trying to interest someone, anyone in some get rich quick scheme. In fact he tried to interest Gandolfini who wouldn't give him the time of day.
Like Fargo's luckless Bill Macy, Thornton hatches a wild scheme to get $10,000.00 to invest with Polito by blackmailing Gandolfini and making him think it was Polito doing the blackmail. And like Fargo it ends with a few people dying before the film is over.
The Man Who Wasn't There got one Oscar nomination for cinematography, I think it should have gotten some more. The Coen brothers expanded considerably on some of the themes raised in Fargo and Joel Coen as director got pluperfect performances from his cast.
I said before that there was one non-ordinary character brought into this film. That would be criminal defense attorney Tony Shalhoub who's hired to defend one cast member here. For those of you who know him primarily for Monk, this is quite a different Shalhoub. Give him credit for not wanting to be typecast as Adrian Monk.
Jon Polito's character is gay and he's by no means is he any kind of a good human being. He's a stereotypically gay person as would have been seen by most people in the homophobic world of 1949 when this film is set. He is one of the characters who dies in this film and the authorities don't get it right. Polito more than likely died due to homophobia back then, than for the reason they think he was killed.
This is film is a worthy followup to Fargo, in some ways better than Fargo. As for how it all turns out, that's where the Coen brothers homage to The Postman Always Rings Twice comes in.