Barton Fink (1991)

Barton Fink just may be my favorite Coen Bros. movie. Well, maybe not better than Fargo, because, I mean, c'mon. Oh yeah, Big Lebowski, too. Almost forgot Raising Arizona. Yeah, that sums up how good the Coens are.

Barton Fink is funny, intriguing and very well-written. It's a nice jab at Hollywood values and an interesting look into the mind of a writer, a very typical 'hired gun' in Hollywood. The mood of the film, is strange. It's got the dry Coen Bros. sense of humor, but the whole film has this very suspenseful, eerie atmosphere about it that gives it an almost otherworldly feel. When Barton enters the hotel and rings the service bell, it keeps echoing for a really long time, very eerie stuff. And who else would pop up from under the desk after this, but Steve Buscemi? Also, John Goodman's entrance is great. The Coens' play it in the next room, as he gets the call from the front desk and storms out of his room, the camera following him, unseen, through the wall. He pounds on the door, furiously, and it's startling. See John Carpenter's The Fog for another good example of atmospheric knocking.

John Goodman is great, especially here, and it's always nice to discover somebody with great depth of character in unexpected places. He plays so many different notes here, from frightening and imposing, to warm, friendly and oafish, to, once again, frightening and imposing. Turturro is also great, bringing an enthusiastic spark to his character as he spits out his idealistic values.

Netflix makes note of Barton Fink's Eraserhead hairdo in their synopsis, which is not only inaccurate, but has nothing to do with the film at all. Nonetheless, the idea stuck with me, and I found one great parallel between the two films. In Eraserhead, and something Mark Zimmer touches upon in his great review, is the fact that the child that the baby is horrible, literal manifestation of every parent's worst nightmare, that their child will end up being a monster. And, in Barton Fink, something along the same lines happens. The writer's paranoia and fear of deadlines takes on a grotesque, literal fear as he winds up being chased by a madman and hunted by the police, in a strange turn of events. I probably haven't explained it too well, but it makes some sense to me.