'Man Who Wasn't There' a work of art

A top-notch film noir

By Paul Clinton
CNN Reviewer

(CNN) -- Just when you may be ready to throw in the towel and start believing all Hollywood movies have become as stale and tasteless as cineplex popcorn, along comes a film that reminds you cinema is supposed to be an art form -- not just a medium to showcase explosions or teenage sexual angst.

One such piece of art is "The Man Who Wasn't There," from the Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. The brothers work in the belly of the beast called Hollywood, but they've never surrendered to its bland mediocrity. "The Man Who" is no exception; it's a beautifully executed film that is remarkable on many, many levels.

Set in the 1940s, this script's mood and tone were inspired by three novels by James M. Cain: "Double Indemnity," "Mildred Pierce," and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." All three books featured bland losers as protagonist, and all three were made into successful films. The standards of dramatic excellence set by those films is astoundingly high. "The Man Who Wasn't There" meets, and even surpasses, those standards.

Billy Bob Thornton stars as Ed Crane, a man so mild-mannered he barely registers a heart beat. Ed's a tight-eyed, chain-smoking barber living in a small northern California town, working second chair in his brother-in-law's barbershop. He is teeming with quiet frustration, and bored with his dead end life, but has no idea how to change it. Then along comes an opportunity to invest in a new industry called dry cleaning.

Thornton a presence

Ed has no way of getting the $10,000 needed for the investment. Then he hatches a plan. He's recently discovered that his wife Doris (Frances McDormand) is having an affair with her married employer, Big Dave (James Gandolfini), a well-to-do owner of a local department store. Ed decides to blackmail Big Dave. The plan goes horribly wrong. Big Dave is accidentally killed, and Doris goes on trial for his murder.

Coen film veteran Tony Shalhoub plays a smug, big-city attorney, Freddy Riedenschneider, who now rides into town to save the day. But the crimes of blackmail and murder are not what the film is about. It's about the emotional journey this passive man takes as tragedy dogs his every step. Twist after twist occurs as Ed sinks lower and lower into his own web of lies and half-truths.

This performance by Thornton is the stuff that awards are made of. He has very little actual dialogue in the film and he's heard mostly in voice-over, moving the story forward in a dry, monotone voice.

But his presence is felt in every frame of film, and permeates the story from beginning to end. They say less is more, and Thornton's Ed is practically a ghost in his own life, as he drifts through his empty days, coming closer and closer to his eventual doom. To do nothing on film and still hold the audience's interest is no mean feat, and Thornton nails it.

Superb work down the line

But as with all Coen movies, the casting is perfect right down to the lowest extra. McDormand, Joel Coen's wife, won a best actress Oscar for her role in the Coen production "Fargo" (1996), for which the brothers also won best original screenplay. McDormand's Doris is a bit long in the tooth to be a femme fatale, but she still works it to the bone. Her alcoholic indifference to life is registered in every curve of her body as she plows through her empty existence. Doris isn't really going anywhere, she just wants out of where ever she happens to be.

Concise plotting, terse dialogue, exceptional acting, and brilliant direction are not this film's only attributes. The black-and-white cinematography and lighting by Roger Deakins is utterly astounding. Nominated numerous times for Academy Awards, Deakin has worked on the last six films by the Coens, and this is his most impressive work to date. The stark images underline the dramatic tension time and again. The smoke from Ed's constant cigarette smoking is practically its own character.

If you liked those classic films from the 1940s -- heck, if you like film, period -- you'll love "The Man Who Wasn't There." Let the race for the Academy Awards begin. One of the first contenders is now at the gate.

"The Man Who Wasn't There" is rated R.