Barton Fink

Finally popped in the DVD for my favorite filmmaking duo last night since I’d somehow missed it until now.
Honestly? Mind-blowing.
The Coen brothers have this way of making you sit there staring at the wall long after the credits roll.
Between Turturro, Goodman, and Lerner playing that unhinged studio head... it's impossible to pick which performance is more insane.
If you haven't seen this yet, fix that immediately.

Barton Fink

Someone please make this make sense!
I get that the hotel is basically hell, but what's the deal with that painting?! 😕
The wallpaper? Sure, I follow that. But the picture? Not seeing it. 😁

Absolutely loved the movie! 🙏

The image?
The meaning is right there—if you just connect it to that final scene where > meets the girl from the photo on the beach...

If I had to pick one word to explain this film, it would be—metaphysics.

Okay, now I feel like a total idiot. The movie is brilliant, but I didn't quite wrap my head around it—it feels more like something along the lines of Mulholland Drive, where there isn't one single "correct" explanation. Can you guys help me out here? I mostly caught the surface-level stuff—the tension between the artist and the industry, those creative spikes, and maybe the artist's own personal hell—but even that part remains a bit fuzzy to me.

I have this feeling that the movie is full of these intentional narrative dead ends,

It’s almost like the script was being hammered out while the Coen brothers were dealing with some major creative blocks, so they just started throwing random stuff into the mix just to keep the momentum going, I guess.

And somehow, that resulted in this little masterpiece we have here.

I don't know about everyone else, but I can't help but feel like Adaptation has some pretty heavy parallels here... specifically regarding that writer's block and the whole "assignment" aspect—being told to write something specific and then having the entire narrative shift toward something more profound. It’s all told through the lens of the writer's own corner, his frustrations, and this nagging ideal of wanting to create something meaningful, even while he's stuck in a social context that doesn't really deserve his effort. And then, of course, you have that subtle satire of Hollywood running through it all.

I still think Barton Fink is a thousand times better than anything else they've put out

it's like 183 times better in my opinion

Here we go again with these guys, where their "sig" is somehow longer than the actual comment itself 😉 😁

The acting is solid (John was particularly impressive) and the direction is top-tier, though I can't shake the feeling that something is missing to elevate it from good to truly great.

I found that sequence toward the end where John takes those people out (with the shotgun, I believe) to be completely nonsensical; it just felt totally unrealistic... honestly, I can't even recall now if they were actually ganging up on him before he opened fire, or if they even fired a shot at all?

Looking back at everything from a few years ago, I still have so many 🙂 stuck in my head... but one thing is for sure, those Coen brothers movies really stand out 🙂

It’s probably not sitting in my top five Coen brothers flicks, but honestly, it’s still a fantastic movie. It really just speaks to how high their baseline is—that they can make something this good and it doesn't even crack their absolute best list.

Hands down, their best work yet.

vivideagle7 said:It might not crack my personal top five Coen movies, but it's still a fantastic film. Honestly, the fact that a movie this good isn't even in their top tier just speaks to how incredible their quality is overall.

What’s your top 5?

Mine are 2. The Big Lebowski, 4. Fargo, 3. No Country for Old Men, 5. Miller's Crossing, and Barton Fink.

That one’s definitely in my top five—and honestly, even alongside A Serious Man! 🙂

I’m not gonna give you my top 5. Just let the mystery hang there, I guess.

If I had to pick my top five:

1. Barton Fink
2. The Big Lebowski
3. No Country for Old Men
4. Fargo
5. Miller's Crossing

Noah Roberts46 said:What would you put in your top 5?

For me, it’s The Dude, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, Miller's Crossing, and Barton Fink.

I’d probably go with those first four plus Blood Simple. Though, looking back, I might need to move Barton Fink down a bit... maybe somewhere right behind The Man Who Wasn't There and Raising Arizona.

Barton Fink was such a great film, but that ending really left me scratching my head. I don't remember the details perfectly, so I'm planning on a rewatch soon.