Just like Fink, I was fooled into thinking that Charlie was your average Joe: round, friendly and funny. After the first half I thought I had this down as a quirky expose of screenwriting in Hollywood. I knew nothing about this film going in to it, and I am glad that I didn’t. A captivating watch, the film’s score by Carter Burwell, beautiful and odd at the same time, is a perfect match for a bizarre subject matter. Capital Pictures boss Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner) is brilliantly smarmy in his cream-coloured robes and jackets, and Audrey’s red lips and hair are set strikingly against her white and blue dresses. The rusty colours of the hotel match the browns of suits and shoes and as Fink’s creative process goes on, his appearance becomes more and more disheveled. The sets and costumes are designed with a sharp-eyed attention to detail, lending the film a distinctive and memorable style. He wants his work to be “the stuff of life” and yet he lives in a fantasy, ignoring those around him and creating drama that may be good, but is as fabricated as the Hollywood pictures he despises.Ĭharlie and the Hotel Earle have been seen as metaphors for many things, but the beauty of the film is that you can take everything at face value as well as trying to pick it apart for analysis. Fink’s distinction between high art and low art is also his downfall, as he finds himself absorbed by a touristy picture on his wall whilst trying to write a masterpiece. Our writer finds this out the hard way because of his stubborn refusal to listen to anyone but himself. Even the fishmongers are complicated, and everything is subjective. What he finds instead is that such simplicity does not exist. Fink desires an objective understanding of the “average working stiff, the common man”, but this is nothing more than a selfish ideal. Poking fun at the hypocrisies of Hollywood as well as the self-obsession of intellectuals, what the eventual absurdity of Barton Fink proves is that the life of the mind is truly chaotic. Immediately attracted to Audrey, it is Fink’s relationship with her that becomes the catalyst not only for his writing, but also for the action of the second half of the film. Mayhew (John Mahoney), and his secretary Audrey Taylor (Judy Davis). Through forced socialising, Fink also encounters a writer named W.P. Having been commissioned to write a wrestling picture, Fink finds himself struggling for inspiration, and Charlie becomes a source of comfort for him during his long nights sat at his typewriter. Soon he becomes acquainted with his neighbor in residence, Charlie Meadows (Goodman), a travelling salesman with stories to tell. Wanting to avoid the flamboyant world of Hollywood money, Fink hides himself away in this obscure and dilapidated place, where the wallpaper peels off the walls and the bed’s springs creak. He agrees, albeit reluctantly, and checks himself into the Hotel Earle (where he meets bellhop Chet, played by Steve Buscemi). Barton Fink (Turturro) is a successful Broadway playwright who is asked by Capitol Pictures to write movie scripts for them in Hollywood. Exploring the “life of the mind” from different angles, we are introduced to a variety of characters, each with their own issues and secrets. With exhilarating performances from John Turturro, John Goodman, Michael Lerner, and Judy Davis, this is very much a character driven piece. Littered with references to other films, novels, and poems, the viewing experience is overwhelming but rewarding. Willing you to discern meaning behind images and lines, Joel and Ethan Coen tease the viewer with a multitude of possible interpretations of their story and its characters. About one man’s struggles as a screenwriter in Hollywood, the film is at once realism and surrealism comedy and tragedy. Barton Fink is packed full of symbolism, allegory, and open-ended questions.
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