I find it interesting that The Big Lebowski often claims the top of people's Favorite Coen Brothers Film list, but Barton Fink rarely gets discussed.
Barton Fink has all of the things that make a Coen film a Coen film. Surreal atmosphere, black comedy and some gruesome violence. It's also ambiguous and terrifying in equal shades.
The basic story centers around Broadway playwright Barton Fink, played by John Tuttoro, whose latest play is a big enough success to land him a studio picture job writing movies. When he gets to Hollywood, he's put up in a creepy, seemingly empty hotel. The hotel almost becomes a character of its own, with wallpaper oozing puss and peeling down the walls, neighbors having sex that sounds like a mixture of raucous joy and hollow sadness. And he ends up next to Charlie Meadows, played by John Goodman, a travelling insurance salesman.
After speaking with the loud execs at the movie studio, Barton is assigned to writing a wrasslin' picture for a b-movie actor. But he finds himself unable to write anything, so he consults a William Fauklner-esque man named William Mayhew, a delirious southern drunk who wiles away his time drinking instead of writing, and his beautiful secretary named Audrey, played by Judy Davis. Eventually Barton tries to strike up a relationship with Audrey, and from there things start going insane for Barton.
I won't discuss the film too much, because the more you go in cold the better the overall experience will be. But I will mention one of the final scenes, which is probably one of the best John Goodman scenes ever. Obviously spoilers from here on out.
[spoiler]Towards the end of the film, Charlie is revealed to be a serial killer named Mad Man Mundt who kills young women and takes off their heads. After two detectives interrogate Barton about Charlie in his hotel room, the elevator opens the gates to hell and Charlie charges down the hallways amidst hellfire, screaming and wielding a shotgun. It's a brilliant, powerful scene that is nightmarish and crazy all in equal measures[/spoiler]
SPOILER BELOW
Barton Fink - The Life Of The Mind (Extended)Barton Fink, really, should be a more widely celebrated Coen film. Goodman is better than this than in any other film I've seen him in, the writing is mysterious, tight, comical and horrific, and there's enough depth to plumb, even if you just casually read the epic Wikipedia article.
