It makes sense that I should write a review of Barton Fink right after I write a review of Blue Velvet because they actually have a lot in common. Barton Fink is a strange movie, even for the Coen Brothers. Much like Blue Velvet, it maintains a pervasive sense of general darkness throughout and insanity is a driving (and ever-mounting) force. By the end, it was hard to tell what is real and what is a dream or Fink's imagination or the story he's writing, which is again, similar to Blue Velvet. It's not a happy movie or funny or light-hearted like other Coen Brother movies have been. Yet it was superbly written and acted.
Actually, writing and acting is what this movie relied upon, given that this had to be a low budget film-- no glitzy special effects here (in fact on the contrary, it seems to relish in its own simplicity and starkness). John Goodman was a super and very evil bad guy who reminded me of a ramped-up version of his role as a crooked Bible salesman in O, Brother Where Art Thou?. John Turturro's character, our protagonist, was misguided and self-centered, like many writers are perhaps, though I'm not sure if he really deserved all that befell him in the story. Since he was also lonely and sad; it seems his only real crime was to complain about the noise coming from the hotel room next to his. Or was that just a symptom of a deeper flaw? Hmm... The secondary characters were not your cliche stock characters, rather they were very interesting: Tony Shalhoub was an eccentric and in-your-face studio exec; Steve Buscemi was a quirky hotel receptionist (Like Wes Anderson, the Coen Brothers like to use the same handful of actors in just about all of their movies, in one role or another); the actor who played the father of Frasier in the sitcom (Steve Mahoney) here played a drunken, washed-up famous author (who I've heard the Coen Brothers based on the life of William Faulkner); the actor playing the producer did a great job making him an awful combination of a mobster (like the boss in Miller's Crossing) and Jerry Cromwell (the evil producer from the novel Karoo by Steve Tesich); even the elevator operator was unique.
Other than the great acting, this movie was full of symbolic/intellectual cinematic/literary 'elements' (I'm sure there's a more accurate term for them)- like the obnoxious mosquito buzzing just out of reach of the camera and the hotel being so hot that the wall paper glue melts and finally the entire floor catches on fire. Being the talented and clever writers/directors they are, the Coen Brothers added in these symbolic 'items' as the cherry on top of their screenplay, to offer a secondary layer of reflection/representation of its bigger themes (like mounting insanity or an evil being let out of the box)- these 'items' also add to the mystique and fascinating character of the film.
I guess that the Coen Brothers are known for writing interesting characters and clever stories that are offbeat and that make you think. This one was no different in that regard; Barton Fink was just one of their dark movies. I'd say it's in line with their Blood Simple and No Country for Old Men, both of which are tragic and gruesome stories. So all in all, I enjoyed it while at the same time found it nerve-wracking and awful- and that's why I respect it and consider it a well-made movie. Maybe if it were cheerful instead of gloomy, it would get 3 stars.
