Barton Fink

Weird But Effective


Director: The Coen Brothers

Release Date: 1991

Rating: 15

Running Time: 120mins

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Actors: John Turturro, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi

Possibly the film that launched The Coen Brothers career and certainly a very renowned and intriguing film. I'm not that familiar with Joel and Ethan's work, not having seen any of their other films, but from what I've seen of the auteurs, I was very impressed. They're able to create a constant feel of unease with a surreal feel added to it leading up to a highly entertaining, thrilling and altogether unpredictable climax.

In this quirky and unusual film we follow a play writer, Barton Fink (John Turturro), sent to Hollywood to work on a screenplay for a wrestling movie. In order to not get pulled into the Hollywood image, Fink sets himself up in a dingy and run down hotel living next door to noisy and overly intimidating neighbor Charlie Meadows (John Goodman). At first Fink is altogether repulsed by Meadows' character, however soon after the two grow to become good friends and Fink grows to rely on Meadows help him overcome his writers block and cope with living in the weird world of show-business, something Fink predicted to be much different to what it actually turns out to be. As he struggles to cope he begins to rely a lot more on the company of John Goodman, and the two of them form a rather sweet bromance.

There's a very surreal feel to this film, particularly nearer the end. There's something about the dingy hotel that links to such films as 'Delicatessens', a french film from 1991 set in a hotel with cannibals, a very weird and altogether bizzare film. It also feels very closely linked to Paul Thomas Andersons work, particularly 'Punch, Drunk, Love' with Adam Sandler, as it gives off the feel of the hero/protagonist, living a difficult life trapped in his own mind and body. John Turturro performs very well and the relationship that takes place between him and John Goodman is so highly entertaining and in a weird way quite heartwarming.

It's hard to sum up this film, but I would say it's worth seeing, hard to understand, but definitely worth seeing.

7/10