May Film Club

Hello everyone! For the month of May I've decided to show a film by the incomparable Coen Brothers. I thought I'd show one that doesn't get as much attention as some of their others. So, we will be watching The Man Who Wasn't There by Joel and Ethan Coen.

 The Man Who Wasn't There is a 2001 American epic satirical crime film written, directed, and produced by Joel and Ethan Coen. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Richard Jenkins, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub, and James Gandolfini. The film is set in 1949 and tells the story of Ed Crane, a withdrawn barber who leads an ordinary life in a small California town with his wife, who he suspects is having an affair with her boss. Crane's situation changes when a stranger comes to the barbershop and offers him the opportunity to join him as a partner in a promising new business, in exchange for an investment of ten thousand dollars. Drawn to the idea, Crane plans to blackmail his wife's lover for the money. The film is in black and white and employs voiceover narration, honoring classic film noir.

The film received positive critical review. It holds a certified fresh rating of 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, and Roger Ebert gave it 3/4 stars saying this in his review, "The Coen Brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There is shot in black and white so elegantly, it reminds us of a 1940s station wagon, chrome, wood, leather and steel all burnished to a contented glow. Its star performance by Billy Bob Thornton is a study in sad-eyed, mournful chain-smoking, the portrait of a man so trapped by life he wants to scream. The Man Who Wasn't There is so assured and perceptive in its style, so loving, so intensely right, that if you can receive it on that frequency, the film is like a voluptuous feast. Yes, it might easily have been shorter, but then it would not have been this film, or necessarily a better one. If the Coens have taken two hours to do what hardly anyone else could do at all, isn't it churlish to ask why they didn't take less time to do what everyone can do?"

We will be meeting Thursday, May 25th at 5:30 pm

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjO8u_9CqXI

Hope to see you there!