The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Beware ... I'm gonna have a loooong intro :) so have patience with me this time, this movie deserves it ... I've chosen it due to lots of reasons (well .. three) 1. I didn't get to see anything this week, and I don't know if I will so I had to search my memory for something older. And I remembered I mentioned this when I was writing not so long ago about the Oscar nominees for cinematography, which leads to ... 2. Normally, I'm not doing this, and I might actually be sorry that I'm doing it = I'm not spending time analyzing after February what "resulted" from the Oscar related entries. But ... Since I blew it again with the cinematography prediction, for the third consecutive year, I said myself to compensate (sort to speak ...) with something that's absolutely delightful for this part. That would be the second reason for this entry. However, to cool off after the failure of the mentioned prediction, I have to get a bit off topic first: after I watched, live, how "Hugo" grabbed the Oscar for cinematography, I said that I'll give up on predictions .. after which I decided to do a small statistical study and IMDb says something like: Emmanuel Lubezki - "Tree of Life" - 16 wins ; Robert Richardson - "Hugo" - 1 win (the Oscar). One! - a sole award - until this date, worldwide (well, according to what's on IMDb) ... and like this I remembered (again ..) that what I'm doing year by year in February is less important regarding what finally the Academy says, and more .. I repeat myself in order that I'll also get what I'm saying .. and more because it gives the opportunity to write about some movies that usually worth seeing .. And now back on topic, sorry for the unfulfilled Nostradamus frustrations thrown away in public: 3. Finally, the last reason on the list is that "The Man Who Wasn't There" fits perfectly with my current state of spirit. No details, in case it's not yet obvious, because this intro already gets chances to get longer than what follows ...

The movie is probably one of the titles having less impact made by the Coen brothers. But it features the same dark humor, dry and sometimes harsh, brought to a level that's quite rarely achieved these days. The result is a film-noir having an intrigue which is apparently simple at least through the perspective of the characters and of the location. Somewhere, in a small town, in the '60s in US, a barber has a life that appears to be the definition of monotony. During the day he's doing haircuts at the workplace, in the evenings has dinner with his wife and occasionally having invited the couple of owners of the shop where his wife is an accountant. This, despite the fact that the husband from that couple is obviously our's barber's wife secret lover. So .. this goes on day-by-day .. Until one of them, when a client disturbs the normal schedule of the barbershop with a haircut request exactly at the closing time. Fact that breaks into the daily monotonous activity, especially that the client is not a local one but apparently an entrepreneur looking for an investment. 10000$ for a dry cleaners - the last invention on the market - a guaranteed success. What happens next ... it's in the movie :)

I come back with a couple of words about the cinematography. The movie tries to be a noir one for this purpose being switched to black-and-white as main release version. The original is however in color, this is how I've seen it and this is how I recommend it. It is I guess the best cinematography that I've seen in the last 12 months at least. And if some time ago (= "No Country for Old Men" ca sa fiu mai exact) Roger Deakins seemed overrated to me as photography director, during the last year I've started to appreciate him a lot. If the visuals of a movie mean enough to you (= not only the subject is the most important) I recommend from all my heart to see this one. It's not to be missed.

Let me not be misunderstood .. you also have a subject, and it's as tangled and unpredictable apparently as other titles made by Coen brothers. Billy Bob Thornton has an extraordinary role - but the part that lifts it is the script. I'm not always on the same vibe with the Coen brothers, especially when the get into crappy philosophy (see the hugely overrated title above), but in this case the story is said through a monologue .. which monologue, has a series of parts sufficiently deep or if not deep, extremely well placed, to worth some appreciation. I had only one issue with the movie .. the ending .. I would have liked something different - and for this I can say that the rating below is subjectively lower. But risking a sort of spoiler (which I'll try to make as cryptic as possible :) ), I assume that other ending would have contradict the basis idea which is emphasized from beginning to the end in the movie. I like anyway to believe, that it could have been forced a slightly different context ;) keeping exactly the same monologue I was saying, almost unmodified up to the end ...

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.

Rating: 4 out of 5