Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Nordling’s one of the good ones. We finally met him face to face at last year’s Butt-Numb-A-Thon, and he’s as nice a guy as you’d ever hope to meet, a film fan with unwaning passion. He’s also a big Coen Bros. fan, which makes him okay in my book. Here’s his look at their new one, another dark and twisted masterwork from the brothers who know best...
Nordling, here.
The Coen brothers make polarizing movies. You either love them or you don't. Personally, I love all of them. In fact, if you don't like Coen movies, I probably don't like much about your tastes. It's just a standard that I feel comfortable with. So for me, a new Coen movie is cause for rejoicing, and THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE is no different.
The film opens with a loving black and white shot of a barber pole. Then we hear Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) narrate, "Yeah, sure, I'm a barber. But I never considered myself a barber." Ed works with his brother-in-law Fred at Gazzi's Barber Shop. Fred's the talkative type. To call Ed the quiet type would be a simplification. When Ed does talk, the people he's talking to don't seem to understand exactly what he's talking about. But Ed is a great listener, and he's a great study of human character. That's how Ed knows his wife Doris (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with Big Dave Bruster (James Gandolfini), the manager of Nirdlinger's department store and who is married to Ann Nirdlinger, the department store heiress. You wouldn't know it to see Ed's stoic face, but he minds. He minds a lot.
When Creighton Tolliver (Jon Polito) shows up to get a haircut, he tells Ed about a business deal that went flaky. He wants to break into the business of the future - dry cleaning. "Grooming is probably the most important thing in business, next to personality," says Tolliver. Apparently, though, Tolliver is short the $10,000 to square the deal. Intrigued, Ed goes to Tolliver's hotel room, and tells him he is interested, and will get his hands on the money in one week. Ed has an idea. A way to get the money and to stick it to his wife, who he once loved.
Ed sends a letter to Big Dave telling him that he's a party who knows about his affair with Doris, and if he doesn't pay up the $10,000, he'll tell Ed about the whole thing. Big Dave buys it and drops off the money, but he figures out what really happened, and invites Ed over to the store for a little chat. Bad becomes worse when Ed kills Big Dave with a cigar knife, and his wife gets pinched for the murder.
To go any further with plot would be wrong in the extreme.
First off, the film looks beautiful. Shot on color negative but printed on black and white, the film is stark and the shots are like photographs from a time long past. Roger Deakins deserves an Oscar. He's one of the best cinematographers out there.
As for the film story, well, we're in BARTON FINK territory here. The twists of the plot are not predictable in the least. There were moments where I had no idea where the film was going, and I was glad not to know. The film is a mind fuck in high order.
The acting, to me, was flawless. Billy Bob Thornton was perfect as stoic and silent Ed. Some people will think that he's simply a blank slate - I assure you, he's not. In his emotional restraint he shows his cards more than more showy performances. Frances McDormand is excellent as always, and Gandolfini shows his usual skills. My favorite performance of the film other than Billy Bob's was Tony Shalhoub, as super-attorney Freddy Reidenschneider. "I litigate, I don't capitulate" is his motto, and he's a hoot to watch, riffing in his legalese about "Fritz or Werner or something or other's" principle about why examining a thing changes a thing. "The harder you look at something, the harder it becomes to really see it."
The film's one big joke is a great one, and one I didn't figure out until I was on the way home, and then I couldn't stop laughing. This is existential humor, context humor, and some people simply won't get it. I'm glad I did, but it's so well thought out and subtle that it'll do a fly-by over most people's heads. There's a reason this one will be playing in art houses. This one's for the smart set. I highly recommend THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE. But you better bring your brain. Or you won't like it.
Nordling, out.
I’ve still got to put my review of this one together. The reason it’s taken so long is because I’ve been sort of rolling it around, chewing it over. I love these guys, and their movies seem to require digestion before I’m ready to really dig in. Hopefully this weekend...
"Moriarty" out.
