Set in late-1940s small-town California, "The Man Who Wasn't There" is vintage hard-boiled film noir extracted to a fine, James M. Cain-worthy pulp and crafted as an unmistakable, razor-edged valentine to the man whose fatalistic fiction inspired Hollywood to do some of its best work of that decade with the likes of "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice." Technically, it's the Coens' most accomplished work to date, boasting strikingly lustrous black-and-white photography and impeccable period production design, not to mention another swell cast. A slightly tighter edit might help -- too many scenes tend to linger longer than they should -- but the languid pace alone isn't responsible for the story's ultimate inability to make for a fully satisfying experience.

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