Barton Fink

Rating:
Summary: Coen's Unique Take on Hollywood
Review: The Coen brothers are probably the most commited but inconsistent filmmakers of the past twenty years. BARTON FINK is a sturdy story about a powerful playwrite turned reluctant screenwriter. It's difficult to put into words teh resulting film. It has elements of comedy, drama, character study, thriller and even horror film. Which one it gets filed under is difficult to tell and in that lies one of its faults. The other fault would be some excessively long redundant scenes. The film is also brimming with positives. Great performances by Coen favorites John Turturro and John Goodman and a scene stealing Michael Lerner is worth the price of admission. But, the most unique performance in the film is by the Hotel Earle. Under Coen direction, the hotel breathes with more life than many actors. From its long hallways, to the paper thin walls giving audio clues of the tennants personal lives, the peeling wallpaper, the brainwashed employees to the sound of air rushing out when every door is open. That in itself is an incredible feat. If you are looking for one of the Coen brothers comedies like RAISING ARIZONA, HUDSUCKER PROXY or O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU, this definitely ain't it.

Rating:
Summary: The life of the mind
Review: Probably the most enigmatic of the Coen Bros. movies, Barton Fink makes you think. In a professed exploration into "the life of the mind," the Coens have created a very much internalized movie that will appeal to some and turn off many others. While they still retain many of their crazy antics, they are turned to razor sharp perfection in this movie, as we find a horribly lonely Barton Fink trying to come up with a script for a wrestling movie in a Hollywood hotel that seems to have a life of its own.

John Turturro is insufferable to watch as he wrestles with all the self-obsessed emotions of Barton. You just want to strangle him, as my wife said, but then it is this quality that makes the movie work. It is indeed painful to watch. Barton seems to be purposefully digging himself into a deep rut as he tries to find the essence of the burly man, yet hasn't got the first clue as to what makes a wrestler tick, much less what his producer is looking for in the movie. Charlie Meadows, played to a tee by John Goodman, illucidates Barton on the mind of the wrestler, but with disastrous consequences.

The Coens once again seem to be drawing on a wide variety of tabloid accounts, a la Raising Arizona, but string these caricatures together in a most diabolical way. The once gifted writer Bill Mayhew whiffs of Faulkner, but the parallels shouldn't be taken too seriously. More important to pick up on the symbols the Coens provide which foreshadow the events to come. This is very fine filmmaking, if you have the patience to soak it all in.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Know Why, But I Love It.
Review: I am a huge Coen Brothers fan, I dont know why I like their films but I find them all entertaining. I guess because you never know whats comming next in a Coen's film because there are so many twists and turns, that you have your eyes glued to the screen all the way through. John Goodman and all the other actors are fantastic, I love the way that Coen Brothers Films use alot of the same actors it alot of their films. Also with Coen Brother's Films you are pritty much gauranteed amazing cinematography. Do I think that the ending left a lot to be desired? Yes. Do I think that the storyline could have been better? Yes. But I still rate it 5 stars. Why? Because I just Love it.

Rating:
Summary: "BECAUSE YOU DON'T LISTEN!!!" (4.5 stars)
Review: I think it'd be safe to say that I think this is by far the Coen Brothers' strangest film. I've seen all of them with the exception of "Blood Simple" as this review is being written. "Barton Fink" is a dark and subtle comedy with some outrageous and shocking moments. It even ends in a way that people may find confusing. Still, I was very entertained all the way through.

The movie focuses around a writer by the name of Barton Fink. He has just finished a play that is getting rave reviews from the critics, but he isn't as impressed with the overall product. He goes to Hollywood when he receives a job offer, but it's an offer unlike any he has taken before. His job is to write a wrestling picture, something that Fink knows very little about. When he gets to the very unimpressive hotel to begin writing the script, he is only able to write a sentence or two... and then he goes blank. He has no idea how the script should go and it's driving him nuts, as he is a perfectionist. His lively and loud neighbor, Charlie, takes a liking to him and offers his friendship and advice. But as Fink tries harder and harder to focus on the script, his life slowly starts to spin out of control and leads him to an unspeakable predicament.

As I said before, this is a very, VERY strange movie. It's strange because it's so subtle and it disguises itself as something so innocent and harmless until you see the plot come full-circle. The Coen Brothers always know how to keep us on our toes when it comes to movies, and they prove that fact clearly in "Barton Fink." Some may be confused by the third act. I admit that I don't even know if I completely get it. I think I have an idea, but that's all it is, an idea. Does that mean that I didn't like the movie? Of course not! In fact, it made me like it more because I kept thinking about it over and over again. I'm even thinking about it right now, hoping I can put all the pieces together.

The acting was fantastic, as usual. John Turturro gives it his all in the lead role. It is clear that he was the right person for the job. John Goodman is also very great and hilarious, and you even get to see some of his dark side. What it all comes down to is that everybody did their roles justice. There are a lot of crazy and interesting characters that Fink encounters during the film that are really worth getting to know. The film was very well-directed and well-written.

As with "Miller's Crossing," this DVD doesn't have very much to offer. The picture and sound quality is pretty good, so I see no problems there. The extras included on the DVD are trailers, deleted scenes, and a still gallery. This is the perfect movie for an audio commentary, especially to listen to when you get to the remaining moments of the film. But alas, one is not included. It is a shame, because I really think it would've given the DVD that extra punch that it needed. Well, at least there are some extras and the trailers are pretty funny. (I do agree with the one reviewer who said that they chose a bad spot of the film to incorporate into the menu screen.) I'd recommend staying away from the "Barton Fink" trailer and save that for afterwards. It doesn't give away a whole lot, but it does give away some key moments.

I don't think "Barton Fink" is the Coen Brothers' greatest achievement, but it is definitely an enjoyable and entertaining film. It leaves you thinking after it's all said and done. And the dark and very subtle humor is always a joy to experience. This is another one that's not for everybody, but if you feel brave to experience something new and daring, why not give "Barton Fink" a shot? I'm very happy that it is now a part of my DVD library and it is one I can definitely see myself watching again sometime soon.

Rating:
Summary: You will love Barton Fink
Review: Winner of three prizes at Cannes, including the Palme D'or, this movie is a real crowed pleaser and it is easy to see why.

John Turturro plays Barton Fink, a mild-mannered but neurotic screenplay writer in the early 1940s who is hired to write a Hollywood script about wrestling. Fink wants to write scripts for the "working man" and tries hard to find social adequacy in among his elated Broadway critics who are all over him after his latest success and so Fink escapes to an LA hotel to write his wrestling movie.

Suffering from writer's block, a room with peeling wallpaper and mosquito bites, Fink discovers himself slowly bordering on the brink of insanity as he strives desperately to write a single line for his demanding film executive. Soliciting the help of a drunk esteemed screenwriter he ends up with his secretary instead and his friendly hotel room neighbor, Charlie Meadows, a "working man", chips in to help Fink start and finish the script.

The film is sometimes hilarious and extremely wacky. There are lots of memorable characters and set pieces. It is all quite crazy really, but three-quarters of the way through the story takes a sudden turn into the realm of serial killers and headless corpses and everything changes much more quickly than you would have thought possible.

This script about a screenwriter is amazingly witty and extremely well written. The dialogue is gold alone - "Your a sick f**k Fink" says one detective to Barton. Watch his expression. John Goodman who plays Barton's room neighbor, Charlie Meadows, is also wonderful in probably what is his best role to date. This could also well be the best movie that the Coen brothers have to offer from their superb collection. There is also a wonderfully surreal and moving ending to this great film!

Thoroughly pleasing and extremely unpredictable!

Rating:
Summary: Startling and impenetrable.
Review: Easily the smartest of the Cohen Bros. films (and the darkest), Barton Fink employs an amazing economy of substance to weave a multiplicity of complex stories and meanings into an entertaining piece of very appealing cinematography.

To be found here are a number of different parables, all well-developed and supported by the meticulous detail in the film... everything from an allegory on the rise and course of Nazism during the 1940's, to a critique of communism constructed as warning about the secretly borgeious nature of the common man's intellectual, to an 8 1/2-esque statement about the dangerous and self-digesting face of the commercial-artistic milieu in the modern marketplace-studio. At play also are a number of riddles, including an imagined head that pits postmodernism against phenomenology, a biblical dance with Nebuchadnezzar for those who know their Bible, and a reversal of the narrative order through the presence of a hidden film-within-a-film.

Many mainstream critics focus on one particular interpretation of the film or fixate on one of these riddles and gloss the rest of the film's richness away as "surrealism" or "stylized darkness." Readers who read a number of these seemingly disparate reviews might be startled to find them all to be correct when held up to the film itself. A much more enjoyable way to explore the complexity and astonishing intelligence of the writing behind Barton Fink, however, is to watch it repeatedly.

Indeed, you'll notice something new, connect a few different dots in a different way, each time you see it. That the Cohen Bros. were not more richly rewarded for constructing such a remarkable "text" is sad indeed!

One of the best films of the twentieth century.

Rating:
Summary: The life of the mind
Review: Probably the most enigmatic of the Coen Bros. movies, Barton Fink makes you think. In a professed exploration into "the life of the mind," the Coens have created a very much internalized movie that will appeal to some and turn off many others. While they still retain many of their crazy antics, they are turned to razor sharp perfection in this movie, as we find a horribly lonely Barton Fink trying to come up with a script for a wrestling movie in a Hollywood hotel that seems to have a life of its own.

John Turturro is insufferable to watch as he wrestles with all the self-obsessed emotions of Barton. You just want to strangle him, as my wife said, but then it is this quality that makes the movie work. It is indeed painful to watch. Barton seems to be purposefully digging himself into a deep rut as he tries to find the essence of the burly man, yet hasn't got the first clue as to what makes a wrestler tick, much less what his producer is looking for in the movie. Charlie Meadows, played to a tee by John Goodman, illucidates Barton on the mind of the wrestler, but with disastrous consequences.

The Coens once again seem to be drawing on a wide variety of tabloid accounts, a la Raising Arizona, but string these caricatures together in a most diabolical way. The once gifted writer Bill Mayhew whiffs of Faulkner, but the parallels shouldn't be taken too seriously. More important to pick up on the symbols the Coens provide which foreshadow the events to come. This is very fine filmmaking, if you have the patience to soak it all in.

Rating:
Summary: Why this is Hell, nor am I out of it.
Review: Okay, "Barton Fink" is a satire on the old studio system. It may also well be a symbolic depiction of the Holocaust. The Book of Daniel certainly features strongly in the mix. And it's an attack on the foibles of the twitchy intellectual, particularly the self-righteous left-wing "voice of the people" type. But, just to keep the pot boiling, let me point out that the film's narrative framework is adapted from the legend of Faust. In large part, Christopher Marlowe's "Doctor Faustus".

The Faust figure is Barton, needless to say. Charley/Karl is Mephistopheles. And Audrey is Gretchen/Marguerite, the admired female figure who turns out to be a little less than what was desired. Barton is frankly devoted to the life of the mind, obsessed with creativity and the longing to learn the secret of life and bring it home to the Little Man, the Common Man. Charley/Mesphisto offers his assistance (by teaching him wrestling--this is a Coen brothers film, remember). He fails, but at last Barton does sell his soul--to Audrey, the no longer idealized "eternal female". And as the deal is sealed with a bout of sex, the camera glides to the bathroom sink, where it slides down (I stole this part from John Simon) straight to Hell, which is ruled not by friendly, easygoing Charley, but by Madman Mundt (the real Karl Mundt, by the way, was a notorious right-wing congressman of the period, for what that's worth).

So okay, it's not a one-to-one correspondence. But neither was "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" perfectly congruent with the Odyssey. (e.g. which one was Homer--the old black guy with the beard or the country DJ?) The Coens use these sources not as road-maps, but as takeoff points, which is as it should be.

As is often mentioned below, the cinematography here is outstanding, obtaining a kind of rotten lushness comparable only to "Blue Velvet". The Coens have always been standouts in dealing with actors, and this film is no exception. If Turturro wasn't so goofy-looking he'd be a superstar on the strength of this picture alone, but then he wouldn't have been in the picture. Seeing Lerner here makes me wonder why he isn't used more often. But the standout, as is so often the case, is Goodman. It's not easy to continue thinking of him as the jolly fat guy after seeing his "You don't listen." soliloquy at the climax.

A lot of people view the Coens as the cinematic exemplars of pomo, but I don't think that's true. Pomo demands you take the theories dead seriously while mocking everything else. The Coens reverse the formula, mocking all forms of intellectual pretension while taking life in general--and the horror that lies behind it--very seriously. That's a rarity in any art form, particularly film. So take a look, and be shown the life of the mind.

And oh yeah--I don't know what they're doing with that ending either.

Rating:
Summary: More Coen Brothers!
Review: Okay, so I didn't understand everything that happened in Barton Fink, but I enjoyed it none the less. At its core Barton Fink is a running joke about the pretentiousness of art and the substance of creativity. There's a thread of tension that runs from the beginning of this film to its end and maintains your curiosity throughout. With wonderful set direction and cinematography in addition to great acting you don't need to have an analytical understanding of all the components of this film; which is, I think, part of the joke. This is one of the best cinematographic satires of the creative process.

Rating:
Summary: I've been waiting YEARS for this DVD...
Review: For a long time, the absurdist masterpiece Barton Fink was only available in a dingy VHS release. It was better than nothing, but this film deserved better. Thankfully, it's here - in all its stupefying glory.

I won't recount the story. Plenty of other reviews do that. Not long ago I was tempted to interpret it. That still seems a valid course, as there is a genuine sense that, beneath its comic, surreal surface, Barton Fink is trying to tell us something urgent and important. Perhaps, but the primal forces in a writer's mind as s/he shapes a great story do that, anyway - often without the writer's specific knowledge.

Rather than a simple allegory, Barton Fink is a collection of surfaces, styles, textures, and mannerisms. That they seem to add up to more than the sum of their parts is the great trick, akin to the way a painter can suggest the dappled depths of a forest with a few deft pats of a fan brush. Which isn't to say the film is shallow. No; there is a lot going on here. But to suggest that this film has a specific meaning is also to suggest it has an answer. Only mediocre films (by the likes of, say, Stanley Kramer or Oliver Stone) provide answers in a attempt to make themselves more important. The Coens (writer Ethan, director Joel), like most of us, haven't a clue about the Mysteries of Life. So they don't try to "...tell us something about all of us, something beautiful..." as Fink himself professes. Instead, they enjoy "...making things up...", like the other writer in the film, the Faulkneresque W.P. Mayhew (played to perfection by John Mahoney).

Somewhere in here, though, the sleight-of-hand, the postmodern flourishes (wherein genres clash and surfaces spill over one another in unexpected ways), cracks appear. Through them we glimpse something else...something truly terrifying.

Barton Fink's resonances with the Holocaust are well-known (the sinister and Fascistic German and Italian cops, the Jewish Fink, the burning hallway, the story's year - 1941, the nice guy next door - also with a German name - who turns out to be a madman; on and on). These touches cannot be accidental. Yet, the Coens seem to have deliberately avoided any obvious throughline, any markers which would provide for a clear interpretation.

Perhaps this is the point - that there is no way to make sense of the madness. Barton Fink, the character, is a writer who tries to celebrate the "common man" - to write about "real life". Yet, real life is incomprehensible to him. Nice Guy Charlie Meadows (the excellent John Goodman) is a twisted murderer. His idol is a raving drunk. His muse is a purveyor of formula hackery. The authorities are openly anti-semitic. And his bosses - Lipnick (Michael Lerner) and Geisler (Tony Shalhoub) - are utterly indifferent to his craft. The events that unfold around him are too horrifying and strange to make sense of. Simply put, they cannot be explained by any rational interpretation. Which, if this film is really a parable of the Holocaust, is as it should be, since there is no rationale in genocide.

When it comes to "making things up", no one does it better than the Coens. Their skill in marshalling symbols is sublime: Mayhew's latest book is called "Nebuchadnezzar"; Lipnick, like king Nebuchadnezzar, has a dream he wants Fink to interpret (the wrestling film he's writing for Wallace Beery). At a critical point in the film, a dazed, sleepless Fink opens the Gideon bible to the page where Nebuchadnezzar threatens to reduce the Chaldeans' tents to a dung-heap if someone cannot interpret his dream. He flips to Genesis, and there, on the page, is the opening of his screenplay - the only part of it he's been able to write. It's a brilliant sequence, that truly adds up. Lipnick is Nebuchadnezzar; Fink is trying to be Daniel. There is (literally) Hell to pay if he cannot do the job.

Beyond a few moments like these, though, trying to impose a specific meaning on Barton Fink is folly - like trying to impose a specific meaning on any of Luis Bunuel's better films. There is something about it that, like Lynch's best work, goes right past the rational self and nestles more deeply in the unconscious. I get something from every viewing of this film, and part of its beauty is that I cannot articulate exactly what that is.

This DVD is nicely produced, with Roger Deakins' glowing cinematography looking better than ever, and Dolby Surround sound track well reproduced. A 5.1 re-mix would have been welcome, as would a serious commentary track, should the Coens ever be able to bring themselves around to doing one that doesn't poke fun of commentary tracks.

John Turturro is excellent as the title character. Judy Davis acquits herself nicely as Mayhew's secretary/lover/ghost-writer.

This is one of those films that's worth really thinking about, and watching again and again. Don't expect answers; expect an experience - and a powerful one at that.