The Cover

Barton Fink is a retro-quirky, semi-crime caper from the Brothers Coen. Of course, this description could fit literally any one of their films, but I hold a special place in my heart for this one. It's about a playwright named Barton Fink (John Turturro) who's had his first great success on Broadway and is soon lured to California to work for a middling motion picture studio as a screenwriter. Taking up residence in the cavernous Earle hotel, Fink meets with a variety of Hollywood lowlifes and strange characters. But there's a big problem - he has writer's block and he can't complete the script, a common, but seemingly never-ending challenge for those who attempt to pick up the pen and make a go of it.

Barton Fink doesn't follow strict narrative structures. No, that'd be too easy for the Coens and their highy stylized approach. Instead, we get feelings and nuances and great speeches in which Fink tries to determine the general idea of his narrative while being berated by the Hollywood executives.

In any other movie, what I'm about to write would be a total condemnation of it's content: Not much happens in Barton Fink. There's no superfluous action - just those strange Coen situations that we've come to love over the years. John Goodman in particular puts in one of his strongest Coen performances (next to The Big Lebowski) as a traveling insurance salesman who takes residence in the room next to Barton. His sweaty demeanor holds some untold truth down beneath. Nothing is really as it appears.

Which leads me to believe that Barton Fink is meant to be something more than a simple Hollywood tale. The Coens have created a strict methodological system of symbols in the movie. Quite literally the word of God is passed on and it comes from Barton's pen. Is Barton Fink a parable about purgatory? I don't know that the filmmakers ever intended it to be so, but it sure reads as such to me. I'm heartened to know that purgatory will be so damn entertaining.

Movie Grade: A

Video: 3.5 out of 5
This flick has a really strange aspect ratio, I believe that it's the size of 16mm films of old - Goddard, Truffaut and the like. If you watch it on a TV, you shouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary, but stick the DVD into the computer (as I did to capture some images) and you might get black bars on the side. TV's what matters here and it looks great, with very little dirt and grain.
Widescreen anamorphic 1.66:1

Goodman gets mad.

Audio: 3 out of 5
The surrounds don't get any workout, but it's a nice balanced track, even though it's front heavy.
English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0), French (Dolby Digital 1.0)

Extras: 2 out of 5
I wish there was more, I really do. A commentary would have been stellar on a flick like this. We do have deleted scenes, but given the Coen's preparedness it's not so much deleted scenes as deleted shots. A handful of theatrical trailers rounds out the bunch.

Overall: 4 out of 5
It's a great movie that any quirky movie / indie fan should have on their shelf. It's not a great disc, but it's a great movie that's available cheap. Pick it up.

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