The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Director:

Joel Coen

Writers (WGA):

Joel Coen (written by) &
Ethan Coen (written by)

Release Date:

26 October 2001 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The last thing on his mind is murder.

Plot:

A laconic, chain-smoking barber blackmails his wife's boss and lover for money to invest in dry cleaning, but his plan goes terribly wrong.

Plot Keywords:

Miscarriage Of Justice | Teenage Boy | Car In Water | Neo Noir | Barbershop

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 19 wins & 32 nominations

Cast

Billy Bob Thornton	...	Ed Crane
Frances McDormand	...	Doris Crane
Michael Badalucco	...	Frank
James Gandolfini	...	Big Dave Brewster
Katherine Borowitz	...	Ann Nirdlinger Brewster
Jon Polito	...	Creighton Tolliver
Scarlett Johansson	...	Birdy Abundas
Richard Jenkins	...	Walter Abundas
Tony Shalhoub	...	Freddy Riedenschneider
Christopher Kriesa	...	Officer Persky
Brian Haley	...	Officer Krebs
Jack McGee	...	P.I. Burns
Gregg Binkley	...	The New Man
Alan Fudge	...	Dr. Diedrickson
Lilyan Chauvin	...	Medium

Also Known As:

The Barber Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for a scene of violence.

Runtime:

116 min | Spain:118 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Brazil:14 | Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Iceland:14 | New Zealand:R16 | Argentina:13 | Australia:MA | Canada:14A | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIA | Netherlands:12 | Peru:14 | Philippines:PG-13 | Singapore:PG (censored version) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:15 | USA:R (certificate #38222)

Filming Locations:

Glendale, California, USA

Company:

Good Machine

Trivia:

Santa Rosa, California - a real town, and the setting for this film

• is also the setting for Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943).

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Ed first sees Birdy play the piano, her hands are not in the right places and do not move enough to play the notes heard.

Quotes:

Ed Crane: Dry cleaning. Was I crazy to be thinking about it?
Ed Crane: Was that a pass?
Creighton Tolliver: Maybe.
Ed Crane: Well you're out of line, mister... way out of line

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Strictly Background (2007)

Soundtrack:

Moonlight in Vermont

I'm always there when they screen it

Besides being great stuff for film maniacs who like to debate the technical aspects, the cinematography or the artistic ideas and influences in it, 'The Man Who Wasn't There' is also a great film. One of my all-time favorites. The sort of film where the best possible choice of cast plays even the most insignificant walk-on role. The Coens' signature in there: being visually very conscious, especially for their film noir venture, they must have spent a huge amount of time to find the best possible faces for every single shot. Not necessary to waste words on how well they did in their choices for the lead roles. Fortunately these 'faces' they collected can also act, everyone does incredibly well here.

'The Man Who Wasn't There' has a slowly developing story, that at first viewing may require your patience a little bit. But the second and third viewings and so on will be a lot smoother... I have seen the film about five or six times already. There's this weird TV channel that screens it just about every other week and I seem to always happen to be in front of the screen at the time, by mere chance. And I never zap away, I enjoy all the details more and more, and I feel the gloating that's there in the very cold, cruel humor of the film, as well as the saddening feeling it accumulates into, as you continue watching people acting as mere unidentified flying objects in the others' life, just as strongly as the first time.