Barton Fink (film): i suppose there is something I am missing
After watching this film that has been on my computer for a very long time I finally decided to watch it. I couldn't watch it on my main screen for various reasons related to file type and file size etc.... it doesn't matter. I watched it yesterday.
I can tell, after watching this movie that it is probably one of those artsty fartsy movies that I am not smart enough to understand.. perhaps similar to something that is made by David Lynch.
The film starts out pretty easy-to-understand as Barton Fink, a relatively successful playwright finds himself in a situation of being lured to Hollywood to be a writer for "the pictures" in L.A. for the relatively newly created film-industry.. He is highly sought after upon his arrival and is pretty-much given an opportunity to be a writer for a studio with no oversight whatsoever.
He is checked in to a hotel where John Goodman (who I love) ends up being his noisy neighbor that he befriends quite quickly. Barton (played by John Tuturo) doesn't really find a way to get along with most of the other people in his new town and takes to Goodman's character, named Charlie Meadows, as a friend and confidant to the point where Charlie Meadows attempts to help break Fink out his writer's block on his recent assignment to make a script for a film about wrestling by.... well.... wrestling him.
Things get stranger from just about this point forward and that is where they simply lost me. all of a sudden things went from real world to fantasy.... right at the point that Fink brings a girl home with him to help him write. There is no way this would be meaningful to you unless you have already seen the movie.
If you have seen the film you know what i mean.
So here is my beef with this whole thing:
This movies is meant to be amaze-balls, but i found it to be boring. I feel as though many people who tell you it isn't boring are desperately trying to be a film buff- because it is boring.
Like dead boring or in my particular synopsis i woudl call it " I-want-to-turn-it-off-boring-but-it-is-meant-to-be-legendary-so-i-wont-turn-it-off" type of thing.
I continued watching for the duration because I wanted to see where this thing becomes "The Usual Suspects" or "SE7EN" - awesome because of a plot twist, but that never happens. Am i missing something? Do i need to watch this again? Do i need to go to film school?
As far as I can guess the 2nd half of the movie is meant to take place in Fink's mind because he is traumatized by the thing that I am not going to mention as well as his helpful next-door neighbor that can take care of it with impunity as well as set and entire hotel on fire and have no repercussions. Is that what I was missing? I don't get it!
Overall i would say that Barton Fink is something they probably study in film school in order to make normal people feel stupid because we don't get it. I didn't get it. I haven't even tried to get it because when i watch a film, i won't want a friggin puzzle. What I saw was a film that didn't make sense and if that makes the Cohen Brothers visionary and me an idiot... so be it.
6 / 10
go ahead and rip me up over this because i would love to know why everyone thinks this is so awesome.
First it should be noted that this is not so much a comedy as a comedy/drama. The comedy parts are indeed funny, but there aren't that many of them. The drama parts are desperately slow and dull, but the entire movie is absolutely rife with metaphor and symbolic meaning. Also, the acting performances are fantastic.
So if you're the kind of person who likes to think about every possible idea the filmmakers could have been intending to communicate in every scene, then you'll have a great time with this movie, but if you prefer a story that moves from plot point to plot point at a reasonable pace, then you might find this very hard to sit through.
Personally, I felt the filmmakers were trying to beat me over the head with symbolism, metaphor, and atmosphere to try to make a point that most people already agree with.
Even if you do not look into the semantic part (but about it a little later), then we still have a wonderful drama. The rhythm of the narrative is somewhat sluggish, but there is not a single superfluous episode and it's still very exciting to look at all at the expense of excellent drama, an excellent example of how to make a film entirely built on dialogues monstrously interesting. Magnificently spelled out characters again and very good dialogues between them.
But what's the meaning? And here the most interesting begins. At first glance, the film is really "about nothing", like someone who cares about the next story from the category "in the factory of dreams everything is very bad." On the second, more in-depth look, you begin to notice a huge number of subtexts, references, metaphors and allegories on a variety of subjects, from literature (almost immediately to the head comes Franz Kafka) and cinema (except for references to various films, there is also a satire on the Hollywood film industry) right up to religion (not without reason very often it is said about the nationality of the main character) and already the device of the universe. All this business is mixed in a crazy cocktail with an admixture of a healthy portion of satire, not everyone can master it. But here's what's interesting: for an even more in-depth look, you notice not deeper meanings but the "smiling face" of the author mocking the viewer's desire to learn something more and saying that one should live simply and not bother with any nonsense.
The film is very interesting and atmospheric film with a cunning semantic component. Not everyone will like it, but it's already a classic of cinema.
thanks for that. you clearly know your stuff. I think maybe you are more capable of understanding it than i am :)
"I'll show you the life of the mind !!!"
One of my favorite movies about a writer. it's not for everyone - I've tried to get a bunch of ppl to watch it but no one else has ever made it all the way through.
Most movies survive on hype. They aren't really designed/produced for deep thinkers...JMHO.
Peace.
Very interesting movie
Barton Fink. The movie is good overall and the story is average though. I am not actually a fan of such movies but the plot from you regarding it is somewhat interesting. So Barton is sent to Hollywood as a playwright and he does his job goodly and is soon in the highlights. He checks in a hotel and meets a noisy neighbor Goodman. Barton and Goodman have a good relationship and this is what I actually love about this film. Thanks for sharing
Very entertaining movie
It wasn't really my thing either. Had all the makings of something great, and def has some good chuckles, but I think you're being fair with 6 of 10.
Thanks for sharing your review about the film, it's boring for you as well as for me.