7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
In a small 1949 California town, a barber turns to blackmail and revenge to escape his achingly dull life.
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Michael Badalucco, James Gandolfini, Katherine BorowitzFilm-Noir | 100% |
Drama | 67% |
Dark humor | 59% |
Period | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The Man Who Wasn't There (or "TMWWT") tends to get lost in the Coen Brothers' filmography. Released in 2001, it followed three films that are acknowledged Coen classics, even if one of them (The Big Lebowski) flopped in theaters. The other two, Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?, began the connection with mainstream audiences that would eventually result in the success of No Country for Old Men and True Grit. But TMWWT is one of those small, intimate pictures that, despite the praise of critics and film enthusiasts, leaves most viewers scratching their heads and wondering what they just saw. The Coens' Inside Llewyn Davis is a recent example. Because TMWWT was made in black-and-white, is set in 1949 and repeatedly references film noir, it is often treated as a homage to the genre, but the Coens already did that with their first film, Blood Simple—and even in that impressive debut, it was already evident that whatever filmmaking conventions the brothers happened to adopt were transformed by their distinctive vision into something uniquely personal, something that no one else could have made. In their gangster film, Miller's Crossing, the Irish weren't particularly Irish, the Italians weren't particularly Italian and the city was so generic that it was obviously a backlot. The people and places existed in an alternate universe of cinematic imagination. The same was true for the Coens' version of screwball comedy in The Hudsucker Proxy, or the country music scene in O Brother, Where Are Thou?, or Minnesota's winter landscape in Fargo, or the stoner L.A. of The Big Lebowski. No matter the inspiration, all of these places are different colored pins stuck in a map labeled "Coen-ville". TMWWT is the B&W pin, now finally receiving its Blu-ray release.
The Man Who Wasn't There was shot by Roger Deakins, the Coens' regular cinematographer since Barton Fink; it garnered Deakins his fifth Oscar nomination (of twelve to date) and won him that year's award for theatrical releases from the ASC. In the interview included with the extras, Deakins provides a detailed account of the process of filming on color stock, then converting the image to black-and-white in post-production. The use of color stock complied with contractual requirements to deliver a color version for use abroad, but it also allowed Deakins greater flexibility in lighting. Universal Home Video's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides a decent representation of Deakins' evocative compositions, although it does not appear to be a new transfer. (There is some telltale wobbling during the closing credits that would not be present on a scan performed with current technology.) Blacks are solid and deep, and the contrast varies from stark to subtle, depending on the scene. For example, Freddy Riedenschneider's "uncertainty principle" speech is delivered in a room sharply bisected by shafts of hot, white light, whereas Ed first hears Birdy play the piano in a gently illuminated display area at Nirdlingers. Shades of grey are finely delineated, and detail is plentiful except where it is deliberately hidden, either by shadow or by bright light. Noise and interference are minimal, but some light electronic sharpening (and, in a few scenes, more than light) has been applied, which occasionally coarsens the film grain. Detail is generally very good; a few scenes appear softer than others, but this may be a result of the post-production processing. Universal has mastered TMWWT with an average bitrate of 34.87 Mbps, and the compression has been carefully performed.
TMWWT's original 5.1 sound mix has been encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, but the track isn't a sonic showcase. Like the film's protagonist, it's quiet but rewards close attention. Supervising sound mixer and editor Skip Lievsay (an Oscar winner for Gravity) has picked out individual effects to complement and emphasize specific moments, such as the sound of scissors cutting hair that accompanies Ed Crane's introduction of himself and the barbershop. Ed's voiceover, soothing and clear, floats above the dialogue, which runs the gamut from conversational to highly emotive, but is always intelligible (even Riedenschneider's gibberish). The Coens' usual composer, Carter Burwell, wrote the haunting theme, but most of the scoring consists of classical piano music by Beethoven.
The extras have been ported over from Universal's 2001 DVD of TMWWT. The sole omission is the behind-the-scenes photo gallery.
At the 2001 Cannes Film Festival, Joel Coen and David Lynch tied for the Best Director award. Lynch was represented by Mulholland Drive and Coen by The Man Who Wasn't There. It's an interesting pairing, because both films share a dreamy, surreal texture and a protagonist whose identity is open to question (though in very different ways). Leave it to the French to recognize in Ed Crane a kindred spirit to the anti-heros of such existential classics as Camus' L'Étranger and Sartre's La Nausée. Then again, maybe they just find the film amusing (which it is). Either way, it's ripe for rediscovery, and Universal's Blu-ray is good enough to recommend.
1946
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Collector's Edition
1996
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Special Edition
1953
1950
Warner Archive Collection
1940
4K Restoration
1946
2005
1949
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Hot Spot
1941
Warner Archive Collection
1947
4K Restoration
1948
1974