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The Man Who Wasn't There

  • Dir: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen

  • USA, 2001, English, 116mins, DCP

  • Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, Scarlett Johansson

Set in the aftermath of World War II, this compelling plot twister made of adultery and murder, crime and punishment evokes the noirish melodramas of James M. Cain and Douglas Sirk. The Coens’ languorous tale follows the efforts of a laconic barber as he sets out to blackmail his wife’s lover and start a new business venture of his own. Winning his third Best Director at Cannes, Joel Coen’s noir is true to form, even the simplest of plans unravel in quietly catastrophic fashion. Shot in sumptuous monochrome, enveloped in shadows and an air of impassionate hopelessness, it is ‘the portrait of a man so trapped by life he wants to scream.’ But he never.

Cannes Film Festival: Best Director

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