DVD Review: Barton Fink
Published October 25, 2005
Joel and Ethan Coen have a large and varied body of work, films covering just about every genre, from slapstick comedy (Raising Arizona) to period pieces (Miller's Crossing, O Brother Where Art Thou?) and film noir (Blood Simple).
(There be spoilers below...)
Released in 1991, Barton Fink is perhaps the most challenging of the Coen films. While its plot is simple, what happens during the course of the movie is apt to leave many scratching their heads and wondering, "What the hell was that all about?"
The surface plot is pretty simple: New York playright Barton Fink (John Turturro), who likes to write for the "common man," has caught the eye of a Hoollywood movie-studio mogul, Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), due in part to the success of Fink's latest play. He wants to hire Fink as a contract screenwriter for his studio. Fink decides to go, wanting to bring his vision of a theater for the common man to Hollywood. But Capital Pictures doesn't want anything so grand: they want a wrestling picture starring Wallace Beery.
Fink checks in to the Hotel Earle, a hotel that seems devoid of any other guests and also appears to be run by one man, Chet (Steve Buscemi), who looks as if he's never been outdoors due to his deathly pallor. Once in his room, Fink begins work on his wrestling picture, with a small problem: he has writer's block and cannot get past the first sentence of his screenplay.
(Joel and Ethan Coen were experiencing writer's block themselves when writing Miller's Crossing, and put that project aside to work on Fink).
During a night of fruitless writing, Fink is disturbed by the loud noises coming from his neighbor's room. A quick call to Chet and the problem is solved...with the neighbor paying Fink a visit after Fink's call.
The neighbor is insurance salesman Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), who befriends Fink. To Fink, Charlie is the living embodiment of the "common man."
Before long, time pressures to finish the script begin taking their toll, and Fink discovers an author he admires, W. P. Mayhew (John Mahoney), is also on contract to write wrestling pictures. Fink meets with Mayhew, who in waking is mainly drunk. Also, it turns out, his "secretary," Audrey Taylor (Judy Davis), has actually written the great man's most recent works (Mayhew, by the way, is modeled after William Faulkner).
- DVD Review: Barton Fink
- Published: October 25, 2005
- Type: Review
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Drama
- Writer: Scott C. Smith
- Scott C. Smith's BC Writer page
- Scott C. Smith's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Excellent point about sound. There are a number of sound motifs utilized, from the crashing of ocean waves on a beach to bells -- all kinds of bells, even the sound of the wallpaper peeling from the walls.
Did you happen to noice throughout the film that, whenever Barton would stand in front of that print of the beach in his hotel room, you'd hear the sound of the ocean? And, towards the end, after finishing the screenplay and discovering that his "common man" was a serial killer, that he no longer heard the roar of the ocean when he'd go look at the print?
I noticed that the sound started, I never did when it ended...
Also, whenever he opens his door there is the sound as though he is opening an air sealed lock, as though Fink is seperated from "The Common Man." Fink's room is seperate from the other building, also it doesn't catch fire at the end.
If Charlie is the Devil, and he sells "peace of mind." What did Fink pay, his soul, to be free of the police and be able to finish his work, which, ends exactly the same way as his first play?
This article had that "Barton Fink feeling."
I believe this movie represents a great deal of many things. Most prominently: The rise of fascism because of liberal pussyfooting. Barton Fink is an obvious allegory to the holocaust. Fink, a jew, and also a socialist, constantly tries to relate to the "common man," however, he doesn't do this at all. He checks into a sleazy hotel to try to live like common people, but immediately complains about the noise. He doesn't even go out into the world, he secludes himself in his room. To make him even more of a hypocrite, he takes money from the big corporation when he knows it would spoil his creativity. When Charlie, the common man, is introduced, Fink can't relate to him at all and is even a little annoyed at him. Charlie, who we later find out is a serial killer, obviously represents fascism. The two detectives, whose names are italian and german (the axis powers) constantly harass Fink. And later, when Charlie executes them, he mutters "Heil Hitler."
I believe that Barton and Charlie are the same individual, just different personalities. Barton represents mind and Charlie represents body. This would explain why the detectives arrest Fink, and why Charlie frees Fink at the end. And, if Fink represents socialism and Charlie represents fascism, then one can conclude that the main point of the story is that socialism and fascism are one in the same. Because of the left's hypocrisy and assumption on how life should be lived, the "nice guy next door" (Charlie/Nazi Europe) is revealed to be a murderer.
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This was a pretty good movie. The use of sound alone makes it great for film critique on technique.