Fink and chips

Image via WikipediaAfter the birding expedition, and a cup of tea with my birding friend and his wife, I returned home to find my film night friend had called. I rang back and learned that he was on his way over and was going to pick up supper on the way.

He arrived bearing fish and chips AND strawberries and cream. I took the top off a bottle of "Skull-splitter" and we settled with our supper in front of the chosen film.

Unfortunately we had technical problems with our first choice, the wonderful Jaoui-Bacri film "Let's Talk about the Rain", and settled for another Coen's film "Barton Fink". We seem to have got into a pattern of Coen and Allen.

Not too much of a problem as Barton Fink is a fascinating film and well worth another look. When Joel and Ethan were finding it impossible to finish their script for Miller's Crossing they simply put it to one side and wrote another film about a writer unable to write a script...

The eponymous "hero" of the film played by John Turturro has just written a successful "social realist" play in New York when he is offered $1000 a week to write for the movies in Los Angeles. After some debate with his agent and his conscience he heads West where he ends up in a hotel which is to all intents and purposes some kind of hell on earth. He also meets another two of the Coen's rep company: Steve Buscemi and John Goodman.

It soon becomes clear that the darling of the arty set in New York is just a cog in the machine as far as Hollywood is concerned and he is expected to set his literary pretentions aside and quickly turn out scripts to order. He is at once, praised and put in his place by the monsterous studio head Lipnick, a parody of the famous moguls like Louis B. Mayer or Sam Goldwyn.

The miserable Fink is supposed to knock out a screenplay for a "Wallace Beery wrestling picture" and his problems are just beginning as the feeling of impending doom increases and the rotten Earle hotel becomes more hellish.

Along the way there are all manner of references and symbols for a film student to get his teeth into and the final scene contains several mysteries. 

Goodman is a scene stealer every time he appears. He seems to be a big-hearted big drinking insurance salesman but is he? Chet, the bellboy, Paul the lift operator William Preston "Bill" Mayhew, a writer (based on Faulkner) on his way down into his own drunken hell, his wife Audrey and a cynical detective duo are all memorable additional characters.

Despite the black humour and brilliant performances this is not a light-hearted watch and the oppressive doom-laden atmosphere of the Earle, coupled with the almost complete lack of likeable characters make it a challenge which would have been better as part of a contrasting double bill. Nevertheless it is vintage Coens and was generously rewarded at Cannes although it took very little money at the box office (about a third of its budget of approximately $9m

Image via WikipediaNext time perhaps we can get the Jaoui film, which was I think a "film of the year" for me, to play and I will try and think of an appropriate second feature for that one.