Barton Fink on DVD (1991)

Don't see what the fuss is about this film

Ethendras from Kettering [Highly rated reviewer] , 15/01/2008

I seriously don't see what the fuss is about this film and why it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1991. The film is odd really - frustrating, funny in places, claustrophobic, the characters are interesting (the egotistic film producer Jack Lipnick is the best, and John Goodman is excellent) but ultimately I cannot see the point in the film. It's not a great storyline, it loses itself towards the end and peters out. Barton Fink is played well by John Turturro but he's not a greatly likeable character and is a bit pathetic really. I don't agree that the film is rewarding, as other reviewers have said. There's simply much better films out there and better writers/directors than the Coen Brothers!

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The Coens bite the hand that feeds

lukey27 from Wolverhampton , 30/03/2005

As David Brent might say, the Coen Brothers are the best writing directing team in cinema today. Fact. Both creatively and prolifically they have produced some of the finest films of the last twenty years, no-one, not even Tarantino can match them for quality, consistent output. ?Barton Fink?, is their vignette to Hollywood and yet another example of how they can dabble with a period piece.

In truth there?s not a lot to ?Barton Fink?, a character study if anything about New York playwright Fink?s struggle to write a wrestling B picture for Capital Pictures. John Turturro plays the loner Fink and John Goodman his next door neighbour, whom he strikes up an unlikely friendship with. As with all Coen pictures, there seems to be an underlying theme, a private joke that we?re not privy to. Here it comes through the Biblical references and connotations contained during the bizarre last half an hour.

?Barton Fink? unfortunately doesn?t crackle with plot like ?Fargo? or blow you away with dialogue like ?The Big Lebowski?, but it is still quirky enough to keep the interest and the audacious generic shift at the end of the film is quite brilliant.

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Interesting Finkpiece

RolloTomasi from Lancs , 23/04/2005

This was the last Coen's film I hadn't seen. And with the exception of the incredibly inane Ladykillers, I had much preferred their offbeat comedies to their attempts at quirky serious films. But with this I found a happy medium.

A very strange film, with a lot of imagery and symbolism, that you'll struggle to pick up on when first viewing. All the main characters are deliciously over the top, but at the same time believable as depictions of their particular industries and personalities.

I was entertained throughout viewing this movie. You never knew what to expect next, and each new development added more to the overall story. I would recommend everybody to watch this film, let it all sink in (even check online to explain anything they might not understand), then watch it again. As with so many great films I feel you can only fully appreciate it on repeat viewings.

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The Coen brothers hitting form

McClennan from St Helens , 02/06/2005

A not so subtle attack on Hollywood from the Coen brothers about a playwright who is snapped up by a studio to transfer his artistic and meaningful writing into scripts for B movie films. All the usual Coen brothers trademarks here and it's definitely one that I need to go back and watch again (this was the second time) just make sure that I got everything in it. Although it's a slight drop off from Miller's Crossing it is still one of the best they've done.

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The Coen brothers hitting form

McClennan from St Helens , 02/06/2005

A not so subtle attack on Hollywood from the Coen brothers about a playwright who is snapped up by a studio to transfer his artistic and meaningful writing into scripts for B movie films. All the usual Coen brothers trademarks here and it's definitely one that I need to go back and watch again (this was the second time) just make sure that I got everything in it. Although it's a slight drop off from Miller's Crossing it is still one of the best they've done.

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Magnificent!

Gavin Anderson from Kent, UK , 07/07/2006

Barton Fink is undeniably a bizarre little film, deep it meaning, rich in visual beauty and excited with a skill only the Coens have fully grasped. It’s a film where what you see on the surface is only a metaphor for something much deeper. You will walk away with many questions and will no doubt be thinking about it for many months to come. granted, it isn’t to everyone’s tastes and will be considered a little to weird for the average moviegoer, but it’s brilliant array of varied and comical characters should keep just about anybody entertained. The whole movie really is a work of art, not the Coen’s best, but by far their most thoughtful.

It’s intelligent and darkly humorous, with a superb cast who all pull off top notch performances, in a fantastic, fairytale like script, directed with more beauty than you could possibly imagine. A must see for any Coen Brothers fan.

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