A place where you can hear the cries of others, but never see them. Taking inspiration from the works of Roman Polanski and The Shining, the film traps Barton in a place falling into ruin and disrepair. The Coens set this up from the start by creating a tense atmosphere the moment Barton steps into the hotel. As his writer’s block worsens, the tenuous line between his mind and the physical breaks down until it is impossible to distinguish between them. This is the ultimate example of the Coen’s love for dream logic. In Barton Fink, that combination is used to highlight the rut our lead finds himself in. In that movie, the fusion of reality and illusion was used to heighten the comedy. The line between what is real and what is in our protagonist’s mind harkens back to Raising Arizona. ![]() From there, reality and fantasy blend into one as Fink tries to get what is in his head onto the page. Assigned by the head of Capitol Pictures, Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), to write a wrestling picture Barton finds himself stuck, unable to write beyond the opening fade in. There he meets Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), a friendly insurance salesman who lives one room over. Barton shacks up in the Hotel Earle, which has seen better days. We follow Fink (John Turturro), a playwright whose hit it big on Broadway and soon gets the call to go to Hollywood. In the simplest terms, Barton Fink is a tale about the creative process. Even if you can’t pinpoint what waves crashing against a rock means for Barton’s mental state, you can enjoy the imagery. That these contradictory ideas work together is a testament to the strength of the Coen’s screenplay and to the beauty of the pictures on screen. It is a film rich with symbolism and meaning, but also devoid of one singular message or moral. With Barton Fink, the Coens turn the dial up to eleven.īarton Fink is a beguiling movie and trying to unpack the potential meaning behind it is pointless. ![]() This blending of genres gives each film a distinctive style while still feeling like works from the same directors. A simple noir story becomes mixed with elements of horror or a mob tale adds a tinge of black comedy. Director Deep Dive is a chronological look into a director’s filmography to see how they and their works grow and change.Įver since their debut, The Coen brothers have strived to defy genre conventions.
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