Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Michel L — 29 May 2009

No matter how many masterpieces the Coens turn out, there's something about Barton Fink that makes it stick with me more than maybe anything else they've done. Fink is by far the Coens' strangest work; a first half that feels episodic and disconnected suddenly comes into a sharp focus when the film transforms halfway through into something else entirely.

That gearshift makes the film hard to write about; even knowing that there's a change ruins some of the fun, much less knowing exactly what happens and why. It all leads up, though, to one of my all-time favorite film climaxes, where.

..well, I'd say I don't want to spoil you, but thankfully the damn DVD menu gives a big chunk of it away. Regardless, Fink is a surreal nightmare of a film, and one of the Coens' most fascinating and analysis-worthy works; equal parts Hollywood satire, character study, actor showcase, drama, social commentary, and psychological horror (watching it always makes me wish the Coens would do a full-out horror film), there aren't a whole lot of movies like Fink, and that's a shame.

One final note: although Lerner's the one who got the Oscar nomination for his performance (and it's a nomination he deserves for that magnificent piece of work), I still feel that Goodman's work here is magnificent and unfairly overlooked; there's layers of nuance and depth here that keep revealing themselves on multiple viewings.