Winner - Best Director (Joel Coen), Cannes Film Festival, 2001The multi-award winning team of Ethan Coen and Joel Coen return to the noir-like terrain of their debut feature Blood Simple with The Man Who Wasn't There, a dark tale of infidelity and murder, crime and punishment, influenced by the thrillers of James M. Cain and shot in moody black-and-white.The story is set in northern California in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is a barber, taciturn and dissatisfied with his life. His wife Doris (Frances McDormand) has been cheating on him with her boss Big Dave Brewster (James Gandolfini). When Ed meets a man seeking an investor for a laundromat chain, he decides to blackmail Big Ed anonymously, in order to get the money. But this small sin brings about grave consequences, as Ed soon finds the web he has spun drawing tighter around him . . .