Review of Barton Fink (1991) by Ashley C — 16 May 2009

I first saw this with an old girlfriend, who subsequently used it as leverage to force me to watch whatever subliterate tripe was in her cinematic vocabulary:

I: I'm not watching that Pauly Shore movie.

She: Shut up, I saw Barton Fink with you.

Despite the many, many unpleasant associations I resultantly have with this film, it still amazes me how powerful it is as a demythologizing of both the old Hollywood system and of a seemingly down-to-earth writer who turns out to be more interested in his own gift, his own stature, than in the "common man" of whom he purports to be a champion. The final shot alone (itself apparently a mere happy accident) says it all.