Barton Fink D: Joel Coen
The first Coen brother film I saw was The Big Lebowski. I enjoyed it. I then saw Fargo. There was something about that film, whether it be the bleak locations or those vivid characters, that made me start to realise how awesome the Coen brothers were at this film-making stuff. Barton Fink is the 4th Coen brother film I've seen, Burn After Reading being the 3rd, and those brothers films are one of the reasons I wanted to join Lovefilm.com-so I could see every last one of their flicks!
Barton Fink is really hard to fit into a specific genre. There's elements of comedy, but I would say it was a crime thriller. We follow a struggling writer who moves to LA to write for a big Hollywood studio. He's tasked with writing a wrestling film and throughout the story becomes friends with a man, Charlie, nextdoor in his hotel. What follows is a series of strange and unforeseeable events Barton has to solve whilst simultaneously trying to write his film. It's complicated and, to be honest, I don't quite understand it.
All I know is that it is most definitely an enjoyable and engaging film! Despite the main character coming across as bleak and boring at first, the story soon picks up pace and with it's undefinable genre a certain amount of suspense is built and curiosity created about the characters and plot.
Technically the film looked pretty cool. With Kubrick-esque hotel shots and some memorable 'cool' shots where the camera winds around the set, Barton Fink is interesting to look at. The colours are all quite bleak and, and I admit I don't actually know anything about this sort of thing, all the shots seemed to be in focus, which made everything seem important and meant your interest wasn't drawn to anything. In a way, the shots were boring, steady and clear. Probably to represent the dull, bleak and lonely life of a writer...?
Josh Turturro of course appears again as Dude Lebowski with the Coen brothers and, quite obviously in a Coen brothers film, my favourite actor Steve Buscemi makes a brief appearance. John Goodman, who basically play any fat guy in any film ever is also the main supporting actor. To be honest, I don't pay much attention to the acting itself but the fact that I don't notice the acting as being particularly good or bad is good for the film... right? Thinking about it I did enjoy the very funny performance of Michael Lerner as the studio boss and Tony Shalhoub who, throughout the whole film, I was wondering what I had seen him in before. Turns out it was Spy Kids... *shudder*
Overall
A strange but very enjoyable film. If you've seen other Coen films or enjoy surreal stories I think you'd like it.
Whilst writing I omitted lots of things because I thought they'd spoil the film. I might make a habit out of leaving the bottom paragraph as left over ramblings about the film, it's meaning, my thoughts etc.
Spoilers Section
Barton Fink, for me, can be summed up in three letters: WTF. Seriously, Joel and Ethan are some messed up guys! This film, along with all other Coen films I've seen, really succeeds in creating a slightly surreal, alternate reality that's both intriguing and disturbing. Although we follow Barton we never get inside his head, and we never truly discover his brilliant masterpiece of writing at the end of the film. So that means it's not really about writing then, does it? I'm not sure. It seems Barton's constant struggle to find a suitable story for the studio but also fulfill his own goals of writing something that will change the world of cinema and theatre is only a small piece of the film's plot as a whole. There's this business with the picture on the wall, Barton's only window on the world? the peeling wallpaper, a result of the temperature foreshadowing the hotel on fire at the end? and the pipes, highlighting the fact everyone can hear what goes on in the rooms. Also, there's Charlie the nextdoor neighbour. I think it's very clever the way this character's change is revealed and I love the way he gets frustrated with Barton for not listening, but ultimately is trying to save everyone. Very clever.
End Spoilers
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Anyway. Not quite sure how well the above paragraphs are as a review. I suppose a review is supposed to inform you about a film and give you an opinion as to it's quality. Hopefully I've done that, if not meticulously specifically perfectly well done, I hope this has at least made you think about watching it. Or watching it again.
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