Film Forum

(2001) 35mm. Approx. 116 mins.

Reviews

“Steadily engrossing and devilishly funny, and, o brother, does it look sharp. Shot in black and white by the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, Man hauntingly evokes such Forties film-noir classics as Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice.”
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

 “Thornton seems born to play the sort of slow-witted poet of the mundane that the Coens find worthy of their condescending affection.”
­– Jonathon Rosenbaum, The Chicago Reader

 “The plot is one of those film noir twisters made of gin and adultery, where the right man is convicted of the wrong crime. The look, feel and ingenuity of this film are so lovingly modulated you wonder if anyone else could have done it better than the Coens […] The Man Who Wasn’t There is so assured and perceptive in its style, so loving, so intensely right, that if you can receive on that frequency, the film is like a voluptuous feast.”
– Roger Ebert

 “The Man Who Wasn’t There moves with the stately grace of the Beethoven that decorates the soundtrack, but it is also a hectic grab bag of cold war Americana: flying saucers, pulp magazines, rayon shirts and porcelain coffee cups.”
– A. O. Scott, The New York Times