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The Coen Brothers have a knack for making movies that are seemingly serious yet subtlely absurd. The Man Who Wasn't There is a film noir where the flawed protagonist is a barber instead of a detective.

Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thorton) is a barber in the small town of Santa Rosa, circa 1950. He's not a talkative barber. He moves through life on autopilot, and we get the sense that he got married merely because he was asked. His wife, Doris Crane (Frances McDormand), is an accountant at a department store, ambitious and nervous, often spouting complaints like, "He's such a knucklehead!"

Regardless of the events that transpire, the movie progresses with leisure, matching the pace of Ed Crane. Even in a life or death situation, we feel relaxed. Everything might not be okay, but don't mind. We're not bored, mind you; we merely feel no sense of urgency. Ed Crane is a man who takes life as it comes. We get the sense that if he were aboard the sinking Titanic, he would be distracted by the motions of the ocean waves. Likewise, rather than eagerly awaiting the next plot development, we the audience are able to appreciate the scenery. We have time to appreciate the gorgeous black and white cinematography. (What else could film noir be shot in?) We have time to appreciate the rapid-fire monologues of the lawyer, Freddy Riedenschneider (Tony Shalhoub), who applies Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle to criminal law. We have time to appreciate what can only be described as the world's most graceful car crash. And we certainly have time appreciate the deliciously appropriate ending.

The Man Who Wasn't There is a beautiful film full of subdued humor that is not so much black as it is gray. The plot twists and turns in utterly unpredictable yet perfectly logical ways, which is what real life often seems to do, isn't it? I'm beginning to think that maybe Ed Crane has the right approach to life: to expect nothing, to fear nothing, to do what you can, and to just watch what happens.

P.S.: I'd like to point out this article by Roderick Jaynes on the naming of the film. (I'll be a spoilsport and note that Roderick Jaynes, alleged editor of Coen Brothers films, is actually entirely fictitious; they do the editing themselves.)