Barton Fink

Joel Coen, USA, 1991, 116 minutes

Following the Coen Brothers' visit to Edinburgh for this year's Film Festival, here is a chance to see their blend of a tight script and slightly surreal realisation where it works to excellent effect, in contrast to the more recent Hudsucker Proxy, where things went a bit awry in terms of style.

John Turturro play the eponyous character, a play-wright who, having been successful on theatre, is invited to write a screenplay. However, he has to leave his home in New York for the East Coast, where his task is hampered by having to stay in a run-down hotel room, where the man in the next room at first appears friendly, then seems as if he may be mentally ill, and then... worse. Fink also finds it increasingly difficult to conciliate his own interests in maintaining his artistic integrity with the imperative demands of his power-obsessed and dictatorial movie-mogul boss. As things progress from bad to worse, Fink's nightmare worsens and he finds himself entangled with a corpse he can't explain, the police, and an insane film writer whom he turns to for help.

Turturro's performance is good, but John Goodman is outstanding as his infernal neighbour. The surreal edge of the piece intensifies, though never to the extent of alienating the viewer, through to the ending which is an unforeseen but apposite one. If there is such a thing as vintage Coen Brothers, this is it.

Review by Iain Lang
Taken from EUFS Programme 1995-96