![coen brothers films coen brothers films](https://compote.slate.com/images/a598362a-af2e-41d6-8949-1e672bba5399.jpg)
Whereas most neo-noirs are overly concerned with emulating the remorseless violence of noir, “The Man Who Wasn’t There” is concerned with consequences. A serene jaunt into sin, this has long been a favorite of the Coens’ devout followers. His wife (Frances McDormand) and her boss (James Gandolfini, still in the beginning of “The Sopranos” when he filmed this) are sneaking around not-so-subtly behind his back, while a young Scarlett Johansson looks to him as a fatherly sage, and maybe more. Expunged of life, he’s a barber with a monotone voice in a monochrome world. Billy Bob Thornton, who chewed into his villainous role on FX’s fantastic “Fargo” with relish, is the title character, a fleshy shell of a man. Filmed in color and converted post-production, “The Man Who Wasn’t There” is one of their most visually eloquent productions. It seems a bit odd that it took the Coens almost 20 years before they experimented with black-and-white photography, since their films exclusively exist in the gray synapse between the bright light and pitch darkness. Simmons, Marlon Wayans, Tzi Ma, and Ryan Hurst, is uproarious. The whole motley crew, which includes J.K. Tom Hanks throws himself completely into the role of a sinister southern gentleman with awful facial hair and an even worse laugh tapping the darkness of his turn in Sam Mendes’ gorgeous “The Road to Perdition” and the slapstick insanity of his early career comedies, Hanks gives one of his best performances.
It’s so mean and insensitive, a lot of moviegoers dismissed it, and it’s often regulated to the bottom of the Coens’ filmography.
#Coen brothers films movie#
The most underappreciated movie of the brothers’ career, this tar-black remake of a far more affable, less contentious ’50s British comedy starring Alec Guiness is ruthless in its pursuit of laughs. But these are the most incompetent criminals ever, and their every attempt fails miserably. A group of criminal idiots plot to kill an old, church-going African American lady, played by Irma Hall (I don’t point out her ethnicity arbitrarily-it plays a significant part in the story) so they can use her basement to tunnel into a nearby casino.