Movie A Day #256 -- Barton Fink

Homer Simpson

All Star
Joined
Sep 23, 2002
Posts
602
Reaction score
0
You must be registered for see images


Review from imdb.com

Barton Fink (John Turturro) is a troubled New York playwright obsessed with bringing his new idea of "Theater of the Common Man" to the producers he loves to hate. After his first budding success his agent convinces him to travel to Los Angeles to write for Capital Pictures. When he arrives he checks into the dark Hotel Earle and meets with Capital Pictures President Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), who tells him of the movie he's writing: a B-Movie wrestling picture for Wallace Beery. Fink travels back to his hotel room to begin, but when he arrives he types one sentence and then falls into the horror of writer's block. He tries getting help from his neighbor, "Common Man" Charlie Meadows (John Goodman); famed writer Mayhew (John Mahoney); Mayhew's girlfriend Audrey (Judy Davis) and producer Ben Geisler (Tony Shalhoub). But as Fink drifts further away from his script strange things start happening, and eventually two detectives show up at his door...

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Just saw this movie at the recommendation of a friend. Odd movie, I liked it, but it was not what I expected. Filled with symbolism and some surreal twists, there are a lot of theories on what this movie is actually about. Most people agree that the hotel represented hell, my personal theory is that the entire LA sequence was a dream, and the other characters -- Charlie, Audrey, Mayhew, the cops -- represented parts of Barton's psyche.

The movie also featured several sitcom staples, including John Goodman (Roseanne), John Mahoney (Frasier) and Tony Shaloub (Wings). Shaloud was especially hilarious. One of the few Coen brothers movies that Steve Buscemi lived through, BTW.
 

D-Dogg

A Whole New World
Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2003
Posts
45,193
Reaction score
1,477
Location
In The End Zone
I haven't seen this movie and I don't know why. I think it's the only Coen bros movie I *haven't* seen.
 

vince56

ASFN Addict
Joined
Sep 15, 2002
Posts
9,121
Reaction score
2,442
Location
Arizona
I liked Turturro a whole lot better in Brain Donors than in Barton Fink.
 

Bada0Bing

Don't Stop Believin'
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Posts
7,726
Reaction score
972
Location
Goodyear
vince56 said:
I liked Turturro a whole lot better in Brain Donors than in Barton Fink.

Turturro is one of my favorites, so I'll have to add that to my Blockbuster queue.
 

Bada0Bing

Don't Stop Believin'
Joined
Feb 19, 2004
Posts
7,726
Reaction score
972
Location
Goodyear
I just watched it. Turturro was great. I can see why he won best actor at Cannes. It really reminded me of the Coens real life experience of breaking into Hollywood. I didn’t read anything about the movie before seeing it, so I was a little confused during some of the fantasy sequences. I’ll have to watch it again, so I can pick up on all of the clues to when each of them begin.

I read this in the trivia section of IMDB: “Written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen after a trip to see Baby Boom (1987) while suffering writer's block writing Miller's Crossing (1990)."
 

Pariah

H.S.
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2003
Posts
35,345
Reaction score
18
Location
The Aventine
Bada0Bing said:
Turturro is one of my favorites, so I'll have to add that to my Blockbuster queue.
You should see "Mac," then. That one's really good.
 

UncleChris

Shocking, I tell you!
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2003
Posts
31,644
Reaction score
15,996
Location
Prescott, AZ
Just saw this flick. It is definitely a Coen brothers film, through and through. It's one of those films that the wife and I both liked quite a bit, but we are unsure why. We recommend it at 4 out of 5 stars.
 
Top