Cheap Barton Fink (DVD) (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) Price

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Customer Reviews of Barton Fink

Pynchon-esque in it's copious use of symbolism; open to numerous interpretations
The Coen Brothers are, to put it as briefly as possible, masters; they've made a few mistakes: lady killers & intolerable cruelty. Those aside everyone of their films is an american classic. Filled with all degrees of humor, fantastic performances, memorable music & images that would make Van Gogh weep. <
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>So, with Barton Fink there's no surprise that all of these things are present and in high amount. The Coen brothers know noir, they understand the use of sound, lighting & other things, and Barton Fink is a testament to this understanding; althought not nearly as noir as something like Blood Simple. <
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>Turturro plays a writer who thinks he understands the common working man, who thinks he's their voice, when in fact he doesn't know a thing about them & doesn't really seem to care about anything they have to say; evident in his inability to let Karl/Charlie finish a sentence. <
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>There are numerous theories as to what the film is about; is it a 8 1/2ish film about a creator completely stuck in the process of coming up with something? Is it a loosely based adaptation of Dante's Inferno? Is it nothing but a film about film making in the early days? Is it a film about a man who has lost his soul, and because of this is unable to do any writing? <
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>I've seen the movie 3 times, and still have very few concere ideas as to what means what; is Goodman the devil? This I'm almost totally certain of; is the hotel hell or purgatory? <
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>Barton Fink is truly an example of film as art; and not just one-layered, but multi-layered beyond almost any other film I can think of.

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Barton Fink
Very dark but pretty good not one of my favorite of the Cohen Brothers movies.

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A Dark Comedy From The Coen Brothers: Eerie And Strange!
"Barton Fink" is one of my favorite films of the Coen Brothers. And the fact that it makes fun of the old Hollywood system was very ingenious of the Coen brothers. The film itself boasts an all-star cast, with each actor playing their roles with great acting. The character actors in the film [as in most Coen films, are great too!] The prententious character, Barton Fink (John Turturro) is an accomplished playwright, whose latest play has gotten the attention of the studio bosses in Hollywood. When Barton Fink is asked to come out to Hollywood and work as screen writer, he is urged to do so by his friends. Even though he feels it is beneath him. <
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>Therefore, he is off to Hollywood. His first contact is with a studio boss named Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), and it is not too difficult to realize that the Coen brothers are spoofing the studio heads of the time. Jack Lipnick is the consumate control freak who tells Barton Fink that his latest writing assignment is a wrestling film, which will star the legendary actor Wallace Beery. However, there is a problem: Barton Fink knows nothing of wrestling, and has developed writers block. While ensconcsed in his beat-up, run down room in Los Angeles he wrestles [no pun] with the idea of how to write the film. He doesn't know a thing about wrestling. Enter his next door neighbor, the alias Charlie Meadows: who is really the mad criminal Mundt. <
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>Charlie Meadows (John Goodman) who is great in this film, is pretending to be an insurance agent. He tries to teach Barton Fink all he knows about wrestling. But problems begin almost immediately, as the studio heads want something, and anything Fink has written. Only he hasn't written a thing. Fink is out of his elements in Hollywood. While trying to write a great script, he doesn't realize the studios have hundreds of writers on their payrolls, and don't want perfection in the writing: Which is what Barton Fink is striving for. As a pretentious New York playwright, he doesn't understand that the studios run their writers like a mill. They just want results, not perfection. <
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>The film begins to get very dark and macabre however, as a murder occurs in Barton Finks surreal hotel room: And more importantly, not just in his hotel room, but on his very bed. And he doesn't remember a thing. No problem, however, according to his neighbor Charlie Meadows. He will take care of everything. The film eventually takes off into a very strange and twisted area, when the police suspect Barton Fink of the killing, and detain him in handcuffs. However, an eerie scene [no spoilers] occurs which frees Barton Fink from police custody; and one of the most bizarre scenes occurs with Charlies Meadows and Barton Fink towards the end of the film. This is a great film. And it is highly recommended. You will not be disappointed, especially if you like the Coen Brothers style of film-making.