Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a very quiet man. He's one of those characters who creates awkward silences in almost every scene, as he fails to play into the standard conversational banalities that everyone else does. Ask him a question, he answers it with as few words as he can. You have the information you asked for, and he fully expects you to be satisfied with that. He doesn't talk about himself much (even as the narrator, he tells you what happened to him, but doesn't tall you directly much about himself at all). This is not a man who shares, or opens up, or anything like that.
I wonder if a character like this is easier or harder to play than a more extroverted character. I imagine it would be harder, and it's definitely harder to make a character like this likable. When a character keeps all of his emotions inside and only allows you to see his actions, which are also meticulously guarded and controlled, it's hard to find him sympathetic. As a result, even when an actor rises to this considerable challenge, as Thornton does in this film, he is often overlooked by moviegoers who consider the performance lacking (e.g., "He didn't do anything!"). Other strong performances underrated for similar reasons are Brad Pitt's in "Meet Joe Black" and Tom Cruise's in "Eyes Wide Shut".
Just look at Thornton's face. It's remarkable. Especially if you've seen at least a few of his other films. You can look at Ed Crane and think "Oh yeah, that's Thornton," but upon reflection, Ed Crane doesn't look much like Thornton's other characters at all. That alone is remarkable. Compare to Kevin Spacey, for instance, who is another excellent actor.... most of his most famous characters look (and often talk) exactly the same. Thornton creates wildly dissimilar characters, even with a script that makes him work overtime to create a character at all.
Not that I'm complaining about the script. The script is masterful. As is the direction and (especially) the cinematography. Yes, it's very slow. I know. If you don't like movies that take their time to delve a little deeper into the characters and story, well... skip this one. But if you're willing to be patient, you're going to see a hell of a story, with some terrific plot-twists, and several remarkable performances. Frances McDormand is rapidly stringing together an impressive array of exceptional performances, just in the last few years. She's had exquisite supporting roles in this film, in Wonder Boys, and in Almost Famous. And that's ignoring her previous work in films like pre-Fargo films like Blood Simple, where she was no less accomplished, but a lot less recognized.
If you're a Coen brothers fan, I think you'll like this. I am, and I did, so... why not? But this is a different sort of Coen film than I've seen before (as most of them are). There is humor in this film, but it is very low key, very understated, and very beside the point. The humor works to alleviate the tension at key moments (usually at moments when most films would be upping the tension, which is a nice change of pace). The humor also exists to alienate Ed Crane from everyone else. Ed doesn't seem to respond to humor.
I've only seen this movie once, and I should like to see it again soon. The one thing that doesn't really sit well with me is some of the things that fly in from left field, like the UFOs, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and so on. They certainly have the effect of introducing some recognizable Coen absurdities to the proceedings, but they seem to undercut the loving homage to the noir era that the film tries so hard to get across. I'm not sure what the intention was with that stuff, but it didn't damage my enjoyment of the film.
I wonder if a character like this is easier or harder to play than a more extroverted character. I imagine it would be harder, and it's definitely harder to make a character like this likable. When a character keeps all of his emotions inside and only allows you to see his actions, which are also meticulously guarded and controlled, it's hard to find him sympathetic. As a result, even when an actor rises to this considerable challenge, as Thornton does in this film, he is often overlooked by moviegoers who consider the performance lacking (e.g., "He didn't do anything!"). Other strong performances underrated for similar reasons are Brad Pitt's in "Meet Joe Black" and Tom Cruise's in "Eyes Wide Shut".
Just look at Thornton's face. It's remarkable. Especially if you've seen at least a few of his other films. You can look at Ed Crane and think "Oh yeah, that's Thornton," but upon reflection, Ed Crane doesn't look much like Thornton's other characters at all. That alone is remarkable. Compare to Kevin Spacey, for instance, who is another excellent actor.... most of his most famous characters look (and often talk) exactly the same. Thornton creates wildly dissimilar characters, even with a script that makes him work overtime to create a character at all.
Not that I'm complaining about the script. The script is masterful. As is the direction and (especially) the cinematography. Yes, it's very slow. I know. If you don't like movies that take their time to delve a little deeper into the characters and story, well... skip this one. But if you're willing to be patient, you're going to see a hell of a story, with some terrific plot-twists, and several remarkable performances. Frances McDormand is rapidly stringing together an impressive array of exceptional performances, just in the last few years. She's had exquisite supporting roles in this film, in Wonder Boys, and in Almost Famous. And that's ignoring her previous work in films like pre-Fargo films like Blood Simple, where she was no less accomplished, but a lot less recognized.
If you're a Coen brothers fan, I think you'll like this. I am, and I did, so... why not? But this is a different sort of Coen film than I've seen before (as most of them are). There is humor in this film, but it is very low key, very understated, and very beside the point. The humor works to alleviate the tension at key moments (usually at moments when most films would be upping the tension, which is a nice change of pace). The humor also exists to alienate Ed Crane from everyone else. Ed doesn't seem to respond to humor.
I've only seen this movie once, and I should like to see it again soon. The one thing that doesn't really sit well with me is some of the things that fly in from left field, like the UFOs, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and so on. They certainly have the effect of introducing some recognizable Coen absurdities to the proceedings, but they seem to undercut the loving homage to the noir era that the film tries so hard to get across. I'm not sure what the intention was with that stuff, but it didn't damage my enjoyment of the film.