An old-style film offers real perspective

The Man Who Wasn't There is a slow-moving, existentialist, 1940s film-noir drama. Sound like an odd description for a contemporary film? Well, it is the new Coen Brothers movie.

Those crazy Coens, Joel and Ethan, who brought you hilarious dark humor like Fargo and The Big Lebowski and disconcerting dramas like Barton Fink and Miller's Crossing are back. Only a year after O Brother, Where Art Thou? they finished a black-and-white masterpiece about passion, crime and punishment.

Shot in color and printed in black and white, this film looks like it comes straight out of the 1940s. The brothers' uncanny attention to detail has not failed them yet. The movie stars Billy Bob Thornton as a quiet barber named Ed Crane who works along side his jabber-mouth brother-in-law (Michael Badalucco). Ed's wife (Frances McDormand), also bubbly and talkative, works at a local store, Nirdlinger's. Ed thinks that his wife may be having an affair with her boss (James Gandolfini). He soon takes action on his suspicion, and everyone is thrown into Ed's involuntary web of deception.

This is really about as much as I can tell you about the plot. It is mostly an homage to film-noir (remember Nirdlinger from the book Double Indemnity?). The costumes and lighting paint a portrait of post-war America, a time when people are ready to feel good about themselves again. Yet something dark and subversive creeps beneath this happiness. How can we feel good about life with the horror that was happening around us? As one can see, the simple film-noir story line is only a device used by the Coens to make a point about life in general. The Man Who Wasn't There is really about a man who just doesn't belong.

Billy Bob Thornton's minimalist performance gives amazing depth to an emotionless character who cannot fit into society. He describes himself as a ghost to everyone around him: "I don't talk much, I just cut the hair." Similar to Nicolas Cage's voice-overs in Raising Arizona, Thornton's dead-pan speech is just mesmerizing. He barely cracks a smile during the whole movie, yet we care about him greatly nevertheless.

All of this adds up to one of the few truly existentialist films ever made. Think Albert Camus' The Stranger. Ed Crane is the stranger. The courtroom scenes look like they came straight out of that book. Ed's cold stare to everyone and everything that goes on around him seems to have come from that source. Ironically, the Coens use this philosophy to depict the beauty of life.

The Man Who Wasn't There is very similar in theme to American Beauty, but surpasses anything that Sam Mendes could have accomplished. American Beauty has a very self-righteous stance and blatantly tells the audience that they should live it to its fullest. It was a Hollywood film posing as art-house fare. The Man Who Wasn't There, on the other hand, is the real deal.

It goes all the way and trusts the audience's intelligence. If you liked American Beauty, then you need to give this film a chance. I'll admit that it is slow, but if you watch carefully, you'll see how much is packed into every frame.

Joel won his third best directing award at Cannes this year - he tied with Mulholland Drive - and I believe he has won the most awards at that festival than any other director - the other two were for Fargo and Barton Fink. The Coen brothers are two of the best filmmakers out there today. They are two people sharing one great mind. Their complete disregard for any continuing structure or prototype allows them to impress their fans with each cinematic effort. The Man Who Wasn't There is more along the same lines as Barton Fink - the film I would consider their best. If you liked that flick, you will definitely be in awe of this beautiful movie. Roger Deakins' emphatic cinematography and the script's intricate details will impress any viewer willing to pay attention.

In our post-Sept. 11 era, this film seems even much more appropriate. I hope that people will take away something positive from this movie, something they can apply to their own lives. At the very end of the movie Ed Crane is thinking about "a better place" and his love for his wife. This last line is a beautiful summary to the movie and his character as he says: "Maybe I'll be able to tell her all the things they don't have words for down here."

The Man Who Wasn't There is above and beyond one of the best films made this year.