Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Rick D — 31 Dec 2012

Ambiguous, thought-provoking, and bizarre as only the Coens could make it to be, Barton Fink is a journey through the mind and the study of a troubled soul whose creative ideas are wasted on an industry concerned only with power and public appeal.

John Turturro plays the title character, a New York play-write who is invited to Hollywood to write for the movies while he is enjoying the success of his play. He takes the offer and checks in to a large, daunting hotel where he meets Charlie (John Goodman), an insurance salesman with whom Barton shares his ideas of the "common man.

" As soon as Barton settles down to write his first movie script, he becomes burdened with writer's block. The wrestling picture he is told to write for is all too simple and undeniably a B-movie, thus Barton is unable to find the words.

Throughout the movie are capable, decisive characters who have the jobs they do simply because they know how to handle them well, like the film studio executive, who mostly decides who stays in the industry and who goes.

The "technicalities" are irrelevant. Charlie is introduced as a warm and considerate man who visits Barton often to help him with writing and to tell him stories. he seems like a simple-minded man.

But, as Barton learns by the end of the movie, he himself has no clearer an image of the "common man" than Charlie does. The actors do a fine job of playing the varied and odd characters of the movie, and the setting, which is is often a room with little decoration, gives a feeling of the dread of something very close and inescapable, which we learn is the mind itself.

Due to the rather simplistic story but the vast and complex ideas one is left to ponder, the movie remains fascinating, both during and after viewing.