The Man Who Wasn't There

The last thing on his mind is murder.

2001 film by Coen Bros.
This is a must watch noir because it is nearly perfect.

It is not difficult to recognize Coen Bros. style,
because their story-telling technique are always brilliant.

I watch No Country For Old Men and Paris Jet'aime before, I like it.
But, I have to say, I prefer The Man Who Wasn't There very very much more.

The highly praised No Country For Old Men is a boring movie for average audience, most of the scenes are silent and Coen Bros minimize the use of score.

But The Man Who Wasn't There is a beautiful movie,
Beethoven's Piano Sonata sounds just fine and fit to every single scenes in the movie.

One thing that impressed me the most is the cinematography.
I never see a movie that the camera works so clean and neat.
The movement, the angle can really capture your attention.
Very straightforward, very smooth, very masterful.

Billy Bob Thornton's acting is fantastic in this movie,
and his voice is really sexy (I hate to use this word) for a film noir narration.

"Me, I don't talk much....I just cut the hair."

How cool?

Yeah, he act as a barber in the movie,
and it is memorable that he was smoking everytime he appear in his scene.
He did mention some great metaphors about hair, very meaningful.

Tony Shalhoub (Monk) who acted as the expensive lawyer, has steal the show everytime he talk.
It's like Edward G.Robinson's character in Double Indemnity.

Scarlett Johansson takes a supporting role in the movie, not bad.
Everytime she plays the piano, and the music come in, it takes your breath away.

UFO are mildly shown in the movie.
Frankly I am not really sure what is the intention and motive behind that, but for a black&white film noir, this is something unique, something exaggerate, which gives a big contrast with the rest of the scenes, and it add color to the movie.

This movie is originally filmed in color and transferred back to black&white.
I am not sure how did they do that, and why did they do that.

Did Spielberg filmed Schindler's List in color during shooting process?

Anyway, for me, this movie is a must watch, it is excellent,
everything you can see from the movie, the props and set, are so accurate to the time frame.

If I tell you this is a 1940 film, I am sure you will believe that!!!
But well, unless you can recognize the movie stars.

Another great film comes in to my favourite movies' list,
this is very stylish and amazing!