The Coen Project: The Man Who Wasn't There

"What kind of man are you?"--Big Dave Brewster

Anyone who says that the Coen brothers are incapable of putting aside irony in favor of earnest emotion need to watch the last scene of The Man Who Wasn't There. This movie is often overlooked. I think a lot of people see the fetishistic devotion to post-war costume and set design, not to mention the plot, thick with noir allusions, and the black-and-white, and write it off as more of the Coens mucking around with their vast tool kit of film references. And of course, there's plenty of that in The Man Who Wasn't There: the hilarious parade of kiddy haircuts, that gorgeous black-and-white photography, Billy Bob Thornton's deadpan narration, Tony Shaloub channeling his Barton Fink character... But all the period trappings can't obscure the fact that the existential struggle of reluctant barber (and murderer) Ed Crane is the most powerful emotional arc that the Coens' have ever created.

Crane finds himself presented with a post-war world where the promise of earthly utopia blares from every billboard. The war is over, the economy's booming, and inventions like dry cleaning and paved driveways. A nuclear bomb has unleashed unfathomable destruction. UFOs have been sighted in New Mexico. High culture is accessible to the masses: even sleepy little Santa Rosa, California has a hotel with suites named after operas! All across the land, transcendence beckons. Meanwhile, Ed Crane, second chair barber at his loud-mouth brother-in-law's shop, looks on in puzzlement and envy. He knows that he's not satisfied, he knows that the dawning of the space age promises wonders to behold, but beyond that, the world is a wearying mystery. So he embarks on a series of disastrous stabs at fulfillment, culminating in his execution in a delightfully old timey electric chair. He's a tragic dummy in the Coen mold, but his pathos is real, and there is never a hint of the brothers' usual mockery; they feel for Ed, they agree with Freddi Reindenschneider that Ed IS "modern man." Ed is Joel, Ed is Ethan, and Ed is every dope out there seduced and befuddled by the promises of understanding and happiness held out by the world around us. A world that fails, at every turn, to reveal its mysteries to even the most ardent seeker.