Stars:
Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini, Michael Badalucco,
Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johanson, Jon Polito, and Tony Shaloub
Writers:
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Director:
Joel Coen
Feature
length: 116 minutes
Extras:
Feature Length Audio Commentary By Billy Bob Thornton and Joel and Ethan Coen,
“The Making Of “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “Interview With
Cinematographer Roger Deakins, Deleted Scene and Shots, Behind-The-Scenes Photo
Gallery, Filmographies, Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spots
Languages:
English and French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles:
English Closed Captions and French and Spanish Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 14
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 2001/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: USA Films
Home
Video Distributor: USA Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: R
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Ed
Crane (Billy Bob Thornton), a barber in a small northern California town,
discovers his wife (Frances McDormand) has been having an affair with her boss
(James Gandolfini), which presents him with the opportunity for blackmail that
he thinks could change his humdrum life. However in the process sets forth a
series of events leading to tragic results for nearly all involved.
Bill
Bob Thornton looks like a wraith in this film. Not once does he ever smile and
the film itself is difficult to pin down because it is obviously drama in the
most general sense, almost anything is, but there is an underlying irony and
great character twists and turns that yield some dark comedic results. Yet to
say “The Man Who Wasn’t There” is a dark comedy would be false and while
it is obviously a homage to the noir films of the period in which the film takes
place and still I think to say “The Man Who Wasn’t There” is a noir sells
the film short too.
I
wish there was a term that I can use that would describe exactly what this film
is about, but I can’t so aside from saying it is mix of several genre
elements, the best way I can describe the kind of film “The Man Who Wasn’t
There” is to simply say “It is a Coen Brothers’ Film” and hope those who
have seen their previous films will understand what I mean or regardless will go
out and buy this DVD with no expectations and give it a chance. I found myself
getting into the film right away and then for awhile I really didn’t know if I
liked where the story was going, but by the time the film reaches it’s close
all I can say is that the screenplay is one of the best from Joel and Ethan Coen
yet and having reached the end I’m looking forward to watching the film again
from a different perspective. Beautifully layered with vivid characters and a
surreal look. The film is also one of the darkest if not the darkest film
written, produced, and directed by the Coen Brothers and I think the
cinematography will make this a film aspiring cinematographers and filmmakers
will look at for decades to come.
Filmed
in color negative, but processed and printed for black and white presentation,
“The Man Who Wasn’t There” is probably one of the most visually unique
films from 2001 and USA Home Entertainment’s DVD presents the film beautifully
with a high contrast anamorphic widescreen transfer with an aspect ratio of
approximately (1.85:1) and the picture quality shows no defects and anomalies
whatsoever. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack has a great
atmospheric feel and is well mixed. A French Language Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack is also provided on the DVD along with English Closed Captions and
French and Spanish Language Subtitles encoded on to the DVD as options.
Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen and Star Billy Bob Thornton also provide a lively
feature length audio commentary track that is very informal and enjoyable to
listen to if only to say that one can sense the fun they had producing the film,
which makes it more entertaining.
There
are a number of extra features included on the DVD. First there are a series of
analogue videotaped interview snippets with Frances McDormand, Billy Bob
Thornton, James Gandolfini, Tony Shaloub, Cinematographer Roger Deakins and
filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen. There is some black and white videotaped
behind-the-scenes footage from the production as well. This featurette lasts
approximately 16 and ½ minutes. Perhaps the most fascinating element on the DVD
is a videotaped interview with Cinematographer Roger Deakins, who not only
discusses the filmmaking technique for the film, but candidly discusses his
other work briefly touching upon his work on “A Beautiful Mind” and
“1984” as well as his viewpoints on filmmaking in the digital age. The
interview has running time of approximately 46-minutes and is the gem among the
extra features on this disc. It compliments the film and storytelling in general
in a way few interviews ever have.
Also
included are one deleted scene and 4 deleted shots presented in a black and
white (1.85:1) aspect ratio with English Stereo Sound for the deleted scene
only. There are some flecks on the print and the picture is a bit darker, but
overall the presentation of the deleted material comes off very well. The scenes
can only be viewed individually and have a collective running time of
approximately 4-minutes. A short black and white photo gallery of
behind-the-scenes pictures and cast and filmmaker filmographies along with a
(1.85:1) theatrical trailer and two (1.33:1) TV spots wrap up the extra features
on this DVD.
The
menus are wonderfully rendered to fit the mood and style of the film and are
fully animated with animated transitions and full motion scene selections and
all of the interactive menus are easy to navigate. Overall, I cannot recommend
this film and this DVD highly enough. “The Man Who Wasn’t There” will
debut on DVD-Video from USA Home Entertainment on Tuesday, April 16, 2002.
Don’t let this title disappear from the store shelves until you’ve bought
yourself a copy!
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.