Barton Fink (Joel Coen/Ethan Coen, 1991, UK/USA)

Though it is not among the most popular Coen Brothers films, Barton Fink is by far one of their most thematically rich and intriguing works. Though still an early film by Coen Brothers standards, one could argue that the director-writer duo were well on their way to finding their distinct voice, as well as their distinct thematic preoccupations, by this stage in their career. At once a self-reflexive work about the film industry and the nature of art and commerce in general, Barton Fink is also a richly layered film that transcends genre.

The film centers on the titular New York playwright, played by John Turturro, who is enticed to work for Capital Pictures - a fictional Hollywood studio (which would later appear in the Coens’ Hail, Caesar!) Set to work on a Wallace Beery wrestling picture in a rundown LA slum hotel, Barton befriends a gregarious neighbor in the hotel - Charlie (played by John Goodman, in one of his all-time standout roles). This relationship leads Barton down a path where truth and reality become indistinguishable.

Owing a great deal to both Kubrick’s The Shining and Lynch’s Eraserhead, as well as Franz Kafka, Barton Fink is a slow-burning, blackly comic psychological thriller. Its deeper ruminations include philosophy, the mind-body conundrum, the clash between art and commerce, the powerlessness of intellectuals to shape society in the face of brute force, as well as the horrors of World War II. Despite its weighty thematic subject matter and valences of meaning, Fink is surprisingly entertaining and fun, largely two to the larger-than-life performances not only from our two main characters, but also from the entire supporting cast, which features many great character actors including Tony Shalhoub. Overall, Barton Fink is among the Coens’ finest works, and certainly one of their films most worth discussing at length.

9/10