Just beating out Vanilla Sky for my top three is this beautifully dark, stylish and surprisingly funny film noir from the Coen Brothers. The Coens have brought us some of the best films of the past decade, including Fargo and O, Brother Where Art Thou? and there skills as filmmakers stem entirely from their great love of movies. These guys are not snobby, exclusive directors who like to throw inside jokes all over their films; they are just two excited kids who love movies more than anything else and their love as well as their attention to detail is apparent in the seamless atmospheres they create in The Man Who Wasn’t There. The film is not a modern reinterpretation of film noir but rather a sort of tribute to the classic films noir. All the elements are there: the inconceivably witty and melodramatic dialogue, the intrigue, the murder, even a seemingly perfect candidate for a femme fatale. But all of these things are given an interesting spin by the main character, Ed Crane, a man who at first seems like the most boring human being you’ve ever met. Don’t be fooled; Ed is full of pain and desperation and has completely withdrawn from the trivial, hypocritical world that surrounds him. He feels nothing for his wife, he can’t stand his brother-in-law that works with him, and everyone around him seems to be out for themselves and never willing to change. Ed has spent his whole life quietly cutting hair and smoking until a salesman shows up in town pitching the new idea of dry cleaning. Ed sees it as an opportunity to make some money and change the dreary pattern of his life and he begins to change his attitude about where his life is going. Of course, as in all film noir, something goes terribly wrong along the way and Ed’s plans and hopes begin to disintegrate as he tries desperately, but still rather quietly and unenthusiastically, tries to hold things together. This film shows the beauty and excitement of film noir but remains much more human and true than most of the genre. It is definitely one of the best films of the year and probably my favorite film on this list.