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May 13, 2005

Barton Fink - 3

This is the first Coen Brothers film that I didn't like (well, maybe Intolerable Cruelty - 4). I'm pretty sure there is some allegory going on here that I am missing. The story is about a writer who goes to Hollywood to write scripts for a major picture house in the 40's. The stories he writes are about the inner anguish of the characters, and the film portrays Barton as going somewhat crazy, it is hard to know what he is imagining and what is actually happening. This might be the story within a story thing going on, but it is difficult to see on first view.

2 comments:

Jason said...

Ack...I totally don't agree. I'd give the movie a six. Try watching it with the understanding that the hotel is, literally, hell.

~greg said...

That bit of information would probably helps raise the ranking, but it seems to me that it is not obvious to the viewer to make the assumption that the hotel is hell. But it makes sense, since the Coen Brothers usually make reference to things outside of the film, that viewers may know about.