Barton Fink

I had never heard of this film and rented it purely on the strength of it being one of the Coen brothers' films and it certainly didn't disappoint, it was excellently kooky and extemely watchable in true Cohen brothers style...loved it!

According to critics (who I mistakenly believed) this is one one of the Coen brothers seminal works - praise indeed. However the brilliance of the film escaped me, any sub text also missed me. I found this film very boring film, perhaps it should have had audience description during the film highlighting the points I was missing and not understanding.

Always had trouble liking this Coens film - admired it rather than actually liked it. Rewatching now doesn't change that opinion - great cast, great dialogue at times - but somehow it just meanders, goes nowhere and then leaves not knowing what the hell just happened.

However, that's nothing to the real problem - the truly dreadful picture quality that afflicts this BLU RAY.

At times it's so badly covered in grain - it's unwatchabl. Sure there are moments (especially out in the open sunshine of California) when it's suddenly glorious. Unfortunately - there is bad grain and fuzziness more often than not as most of it is set inside a hotel room. Sometimes it feels like you're watching a bad video...

Rent this before you buy the BR as a replacement - a real let down.

The Coen Brothers tick another box in their repertoire with this curious visit to writer’s block. It starts as an odd premise for a film, develops into a comical critique of the Hollywood industry and descends into a dark film noir to end with an appointment to meet the devil.

John Turturro (Fink), Coen’s fetich, leads the way in one rare lead role in his career and he is well supported by a cast with John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and Michael Lerner, all of them playing archetypical Coen’s characters; eccentric, goofy and melodramatic.

The film originates from the author’s previous real experience of a writer’s block. Turturro is an acclaimed director in the East coast now tempted by the Hollywoodian experience looking for a new form of art “for the common man”. During his search Fink goes through his personal blockade, a helpless isolation as evidence of his inability to connect with this common man, the real man so highly regarded. And the film drags along through this oppressed and claustrophobic atmosphere with no much to hang onto but little amusing moments often described as a critique to the film industry and generally embodied in the skin of Jack Lipnick (Lerner), the Hollywood mogul.

After nearly an hour of overindulgent drowsiness, The Coen Bros shrug off and introduce a welcome shift in the style and narrative of the film. It is then a dark drama, almost film noir with evil undertones. There is now a sense of urgency, a rush to close the film on a high note. The story is here delivered half-baked but even stale bread does for the viewer at this stage. A few flashes of brilliance among some degree of suspense, the awakening of an evil Goodman as a full-time player and a string of bing bang booms and inflamed corridors close the film on a high but a sense of tiredness and disenchantment.

So I saw this film just now called 'Barton Fink'.It is the story of a frustrated writer in Los Angeles desperately looking for inspiration whilst remaining committed to the plight of the common man. The film was headed up by Coen Brothers favourites John Tuturro and John Goodman and can certainly be described as Turturro's finest hour. It is funny but it seems that the Coen Brothers are the only real fans of these two actors. They bring out their brilliance in a way no other director has and since the pair have stopped using these two actors as much as they did their careers seem to have taken a downward spiral. What a shame this is. Turturro's performance in this one is award worthy but what do we see him in now? 'Transofmers' and maybe 'Anger Management' spring to mind but these don't stand up to his earlier work, especially that of the 90s. It seems incredible that after performances such as this Tuturro remains a B list actor who rarely is given the chance of a leading role. Going back to the subject of awards, this one was nominated for three Oscars. Alas, Turturro was not a nominee and instead the nomination was for Best Actor In A Supporting Role. Goodman? Nope. It was for Michael Lerner. How ridiculous.

To a lesser extent the same can be said of John Goodman. The Coen Brothers always manage to bring out a crazy and sometimes psychotic side to Goodman and this can not only be seen in 'Barton Fink' but in the crude character he played in 'The Big Lebowski'. Again, where is he these days? The only name the average movie watcher would recognise here is Steve Buscemi and I feel this is a real shame. I just can't see how other directors have not picked up on the talent of these two.

Anyway back to the film. It is a film based around frustration. We feel Turturro's frustration through his performance and perhaps because the film was based on the true experiences of writers block, during the creation of the film 'Miller's Crossing', of the directorial duo. The film is so effective in showing the pain that they themselves went through and you can feel how genuine it is all the way through. We get another typically Coen Brothers ambiguous ending just like we did with 'A Serious Man' but all in all the film was a brilliant one.