“The Man Who Wasn’t There” — Read Along
A masterclass from Billy Bob Thornton.
Since the inception of “The Blackford Book Club” on Youtube (August 2023) and the addition of my “Essential Film Reviews Collection” (stop laughing!) in September and October, the most popular film review watched to date has been my love-in appreciation of the Tom Cruise starring, Tony Scott directed Days of Thunder from 1990. But as a Coen Brothers obsessive I’m exceedingly pleased to report that a favourite from their canon of incredible cinematic offerings, The Man Who Wasn’t There, has tiptoed to the top of my Youtube charts.
Here’s a snippet from my original, spoiler free review written over a decade ago:
“Ed Crane” (Billy Bob Thornton) A career high performance from Billy Bob Thornton as the disaffected and apathetic barber Ed Crane. A slow, methodical and still performance perfectly encapsulating Ed’s distance from a world he doesn’t understand and from a world he doesn’t want to be a part of. Against a busy backdrop of people and chattering conversations his vacant stare is continually evident at a world in general he simply seems to have given up on despite a successful career and seeming home life. This is Billy Bob Thornton’s film from start to finish as we follow his every move and he’s in nearly every scene of the film. He is captivating as Crane, cigarette perennially dangling from his mouth, blank, cold expression, so alienated from the world.
Thornton’s performance is mesmerising.
His poise and detached performance grab your attention and keep you involved in the film throughout. Though minimal actual dialogue, which is obviously deliberate, we see the film through his eyes and expressions whilst he also narrates the film throughout. A simple ransom premise turns much darker very quickly, yet despite being at the centre of a mess he created, Ed remains detached and unblinking, and if you watch closely enough, often deliberately so. His tale of disconnection and almost ghost like living is also reinforced by the bizarre UFO scene and interaction towards the end of the film which is totally out of keeping with the film.
Or is it?
It’s a haunting and beautiful portrayal, of light blended with a lot of dark and Billy Bob Thornton in true career best mode.
So I now present to you the fourth in a continuing series of “Read Along” articles in which, via the medium of my written review and the videos of me reading them to camera, you can, should you so wish, read along with me as I also narrate. The links below are of my original review penned in a long ago 2012, the first 17 films in the cinematic canon of the Coen Brothers I’ve compiled and added to over the years and a choice of watching my video on either my Youtube or Rumble channels. I’ve also added a link to my “Essential Film Reviews Collection” and all 7 exhaustive volumes of some of my best writing to date can be found on www.amazon.com
"The Man Who Wasn't There" - Original Review
"The World According to the Coen Brothers" - Their first 17 films
"The Man Who Wasn't There" - My Youtube Video
"The Man Who Wasn't There" - My Rumble Video
"The Essential Film Reviews Collection" - Available via Amazon
Thanks for reading. A passionate fan and writer of spoiler free film reviews, please see my 7 volumes of “Essential Film Reviews Collection” linked above (all FREE to read if you have an Amazon Kindle “Unlimited” package) and here are the first three in my new series of “Read Along” articles: