The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Billy Bob Thornton is one of my favorite actors. Don't ask. He just is. If you've seen U-turn, you know what I'm talking about. In The Man Who Wasn't There, an excellent movie directed by the Coen brothers, Thornton plays Ed Crane, a mere shell of a man. Under the shell: there is nothing, or next to nothing. Ed Crane goes through life as a ghost. He is uncomfortable in most settings; most of all, he doesn't like the endless stream of talk that people around  him unstoppingly engage in. Ed Crane is a barber. One day, one of this customers, a shabby businessman, talks about his business plan. At first, this is just an example of yet another chatter-box invading Crane's precious headspace. After a while, Crane starts thinking. He doesn't want to continue working as a barber. Maybe he should get in touch with that dry-cleaner businessman. What follows from this is an endless series of tragedies. Ed Crane's only consolation is the sentimental piano tunes played by a friend's kid.

Why is this an excellent film? Well, it has the looks. Silver-sepia images create a world of their own.The Coen brothers know how to create the kind of mood that will transport us into the realm of meaningless that Ed Crane's life exemplifies. The film evokes a sense of detachment, bordering on the depressed. Thornton embodies that state very well. He has just the right kind of quiet expression of desolation. Crane lives a life as it were somebody else's. He doesn't react to anything very strongly. Of course, he is supposed to be some sort of Everyman. The product of a society that erodes all possibilities of emotion. The only thing that provokes us out of passivity is the promise of Money. Luckily, the Coen brothers don't press that point too hard (after all, Herbert Marcuse didn't write the script, and I am glad he didn't). The film is told in voice-over. I am surprised how well it works. 

Like Bad Lieutenant, The Man Who Wasn't There is a zany take on film noir. Both films have got just what it takes to be good movies in spite or because of the genre obsession.