Barton Fink (1991)

Tweaked 'til it screams...

The genius of The Brothers Coen lies in their ability to examine American Culture and tweak it until it screams in transcendent agony, this fine film is no exception. John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Steve Buscemi... Imagine their faces, throw in surreal camera-craft, blast them with the contrast of bright Hollywood sunlight and still, deep, dark shadow and you get the idea.

It's set in Hollywood circa the raid on Pearl Harbor. A young and somewhat successful playwright attempts to cope with the coke, booze & benny fueled craziness of the studio. Enter J. Goodman's character: a bona fide psycho, and watch the puzzi get *extra* fancy...
July 7, 2008

Great movie; why so few DVD features?

I liked the still gallery, but there should have been more than that and the trailers. Ah, well...Still, this is a great movie and probably has not been seen by as many people as should have seen it by now. It's not a blockbuster; it's noir and a very dark comedy about a writer who hits a nasty writer's block and then gets caught up in a madman's reign of terror.

This is also a great commentary by the Coens about the nature of Hollywood, how a writer struggles in that town, anti-Semitism, fate, and a symbolically depressing and dangerous environment (portrayed through the dripping, peeling wallpaper, the constant whine of mosquitoes, and the dreary Hotel Earle).

John Goodman and John Turturro do excellent work here as the madman and the writer, respectively, showing us both their comedic and their tormented sides.

The ending, with the hallway in flames, is unforgettable; as is the mysterious package which I hope Barton never opens, since it may very likely contain body parts belonging to people he knew. Credit the Coens for not giving away the mystery.




June 12, 2008

Burn Hollywood to the ground...

I settled down to watch this film the other night because someone told me that it drew a lot of inspiration from `Eraserhead', and since David Lynch's classic rests firmly at the top of my favorite movies ever made I decided that `Barton Fink' was a must see for me. While the film is no where near the brilliance that was `Eraserhead' I must say that the Coen's did not disappoint (yet, with all seriousness; have they ever truly disappointed?). `Barton Fink' is truly a strange and thought provoking film that, like `Eraserhead', may not be fully understood right off the bat, but it sports enough passion and intelligence to warrant a second and third watch through to finally `get' it so-to-speak.

The film revolves around a playwright by the name of Barton Fink. Fink is asked to come to Hollywood and write a wrestling picture for famous working actor Wallace Beery. Sure, he feels that a wrestling picture is far beneath his talent but his desire to become accepted into the world of motion picture moves him to conform to the desires of the studio and settle down in a dusty old hotel to begin his script. And then he pained with writers block, a most savage case at that, and so he begins his long struggle to create a masterpiece.

I've seen a few movies lately that tackle the darker side of Hollywood, and while `Barton Fink' is not the best (that spot securely belongs to `8 ½') it is certainly up there. As Fink tries aimlessly to write something with meaning and significance he gradually drifts into a madness that I can imagine plagues many writers working in Hollywood today. Everyone wants to be known for something important and meaningful, but the sad reality is that meaningful rarely sells, and so they are pressured to create something mediocre that will fill seats.

Case-in-point...how many of you have ever really heard of `Barton Fink'?

Now, how many of you have heard of `I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry'?

My point exactly.

The film is elevated by some intelligent and memorable performances, especially in the supporting category. Judy Davis is stunning as Audrey Taylor, the lovely secretary who steals a little part of Fink's soul. Michael Lerner (who garnered an Oscar nomination for his performance) is extremely memorable as Jack Lipnick, the studio head entrusting Fink with the script. I personally loved John Mahoney's portrayal of desperate alcoholic writer W.P. Mayhew, especially his off screen yammering about honey. Tony Shalhoub (what an accent) and Jon Polito are also noteworthy; even Steve Buscemi in his one scene is spot on with the mood and air of the film.

This movie though belongs to the two Johns; Turturro and Goodman. As Fink, Turturro brilliantly captures the desperation that is slowly unraveling within his soul. We can see the outward symptoms of his madness, but it is always glossed over somewhat. It is the eyes that really drag us in to what is happening inside his mind. Goodman delivers what may be his finest performance ever, and one of my personal favorite supporting performances ever. As Charlie Meadows, Goodman instantly draws in the audience. He seems nice enough, normal enough, simple enough; and then he smiles up at Fink and you know that there is something more there, more than meets the eye and much more that Fink would give him credit for. It was in those minor details that Meadows became the most interesting character in `Barton Fink' and honestly the most real. Charlie Meadows is probably the best way to understand the title character, but I really can't explain my reasons for saying this without giving away too much of the film. Just watch closely and listen intently ("you don't LISTEN") and you will understand the significance that Meadows has in the bigger picture.

There is no denying that the Coen brothers know how to make a film, and they know how to create something fresh and original while never conforming to create something overtly commercial. Just take a look at even their biggest successes. `Fargo', `O Brother, Where Art Thou?' and their latest Oscar winning `No Country for Old Men' can join `Barton Fink' as thought provoking cinema that maintains a vision and delivers triumphantly. June 9, 2008

Barton Fink: I've always found that writing comes from a great inner pain.

One of the finest Coen Brothers' films, "Barton Fink" (1990) is a skillful inspired mixture of the real and unreal, the nightmarish Lynch - Kafkaesque vision of 1940s Hollywood. Barton Fink, a talented and serious New York playwright is hired by a big movie studio to write a screenplay about wrestling. Soon he finds himself in a writer block, and his hotel neighbor, chatty insurance salesman Charlie (John Goodman, one of Coens' favorite actors) tries to help him out by teaching Fink about wrestling. The situation gets out of control, becomes more and more nightmarish and surreal; and then, one day, two homicide detectives show up at Fink's hotel and want to ask him a few questions.

"Barton Fink" broke the Cannes Festival's record taking three major awards, Golden Palm, the director's prize and the best actor award for John Turturro (the regular actor in Coens' films). I think all awards were well deserved - the film is unforgettable April 19, 2008

What is the world coming to

Imagine, the men who made this brillant movie about writing and Hollywood and pretentiousness, who then also made Lebowski and Fargo and some other good stuff, unfortunately also some nonsense about a divorce lawyer and a silly remake of a black crime comedy with displaced Tom Hanks, these movie geniuses had to pick a mediocre novel by an overrated novelist and put an excellent Spanish actor into it, but gave him a silly haircut and forbade him to act but instructed him to kill everybody in sight, which some people found funny or existentially relevant, these guys achieved their highest level of movie success with that perfect nothing, the movie about no country for old men.
The talent is there, guys, you can do it, you can make good movies after all! Please try to remember your skills!
P.S. I got attacked by my friend Metamorpho for not saying enough about Barton Fink but spending most of my review space on something else. Where he is right, he is right.
So here is comes. Turturro is a recently successful leftish Jewish New Yorker playwright who gets himself reluctantly signed up by a Hollywood tycoon for a stint as a movie script writer. Of course he develops a bad case of writer's block and starts befriending his hotel neighbor Goodman who seems to be a friendly insurance salesman, which of course he is not.
I mention the Jewishness of the title hero on purpose: one of the strongest scene in this movie, which is a mixture of black and screwball comedy, is when Barton gets interrogated by the police in a serial murder case. The cops make sarcastic comments about the fact that the hotel is obviously not restricted. Which tied in surprisingly with the other movie that I reviewed here on the same day: Focus. Also about US antisemitism in the times of WW2.
Another parallel: the hotel room does have some slight similarity to John Cusacks 1408. Just in terms of nightmarishness... March 23, 2008

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