"Barton Fink" (1991)

In anticipation of the new Coen Bros. movie “Hail, Caesar!” I thought it’d be appropriate to watch “Barton Fink.” I didn’t know they had already taken a crack at Hollywood before.

This movie is about a theater writer who gets recruited to write a screenplay for a fictitious studio called Capitol Films. He’s bullied…sort of…to get writing. But he then suffers from writer’s block. While holed up in a seedy motel, he befriends a next door neighbor (John Goodman) who is a friendly enough traveling salesman to stave off boredom and to procrastinate, but the world starts to unravel as the pressure to write drives him to insanity.

It surprised me that this movie was released in 1991. At the time, the only thing I heard about the Coens were from “Blood Simple.” That movie bored me to tears. “Raising Arizona” was funny, but weird. It made an odd impression on me. The Coens share the same odd idiosyncratic quality of a Quentin Tarantino movie. Though they reference more real behavior issues, Tarantino steals from other movies. They also share the jarring violence. The world of “Barton Fink” are cartoonish. Beautiful, in the sense of style, but the people are ugly. And their behavior lead to their demise. Not just demise, but gruesome end.

I had to remember that I was watching a 25 year old movie. The movie is better now than it was then. Which is shocking, considering our sensibilities have to catch up with Coen oddball theater. The ending will have you asking more questions than having an answer for. Is the writer losing his mind? Did he even make it to Los Angeles? Are we in purgatory?

This is movie is fun. And it unfolds and begins to twist the screws on us. I appreciate the inside jokes. Specifically Michael Lerner’s character of the studio exec who is blowhardy and logically-illogical. The lines come fast, so you have to digest the rhythm. And as you spend enough time in this world, it starts to absorb you. It’s fascinating to see a movie made in the tone of movies made during this period, but also include more modern themes. This is a solid flick.