Barton Fink

1991 Drama

The title character, played by John Turturro, is a Broadway playwright, based on Clifford Odets, lured to Hollywood with the promise of untold riches by a boorish studio chieftain (played by Michael Lerner as a combination of Louis B. Mayer and Harry Cohn). Despising the film capital and everything it stands for, Barton Fink comes down with an acute case of writer's block. He is looked after by a secretary (Judy Davis) who has been acting as a ghost writer for an alcoholic screenwriter (John Mahoney, playing a character based on William Faulkner). Also keeping tabs on Fink is a garrulous traveling salesman (John Goodman), the most likeable, stable character in the picture. And then comes the plot twist to end all plot twists, plunging Barton Fink into a surreal nightmare that would make Hieronymus Bosch look like a house painter. Once more, Ethan and Joel Coen serve up a smorgasbord of quirkiness and kinkiness, where nothing is what it seems and nothing turns out as planned. more..

Director: Joel Coen

Starring: John Turturro, John Goodman, Judy Davis, Michael Lerner, John Mahoney

Reviews

  • An unqualified winner. Here is a fine dark comedy of flamboyant style and immense though seemingly effortless techniqe...It's an exhilarating original.

    - The New York Times

    29 November 2012

  • Stimulating entertainment, as rigorously challenging and painfully funny as anything the Coens have done. But it's necessary to meet the Coens halfway. If you don't, Barton Fink is an empty exercise that will bore you breathless. If you do, it's a comic nightmare that will stir your imagination like no film in years.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    29 November 2012

  • What "Raising Arizona" was to baby lust, "Barton Fink" is to writer's block -- a rapturously funny, strangely bittersweet, moderately horrifying and, yes, truly apt description of the condition and its symptoms.

    Rita Kempley - The Washington Post

    29 November 2012

  • A black comedy in the tradition of David Lynch, Luis Bunuel and the Coens themselves...an assured piece of comic filmmaking.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    29 November 2012

  • Though less than the sum of its brilliant parts, the Coens' latest will still be must viewing in 32 years.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    29 November 2012

Awards

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1992)

     
  • John Turturro

    Cannes Film Festival (1991)

  • Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama

    Casting Society of America (1992)

     
  • Best Cinematography

    Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1992)

  • Best Foreign Actor (Migliore Attore Straniero)

    David di Donatello Awards (1992)