Top Film for Each Year of My Life – 1991

Barton Fink

“Look upon me! I'll show you the life of the mind!”

Ah, 1991. The year The Silence of the Lambs owned all at the Oscars. While certainly not my number one film for the year, I have little complaint about its place in history (except that Anthony Hopkins should have been a Supporting Actor, but then Jack Palance would have never won for his portrayal of Curly in City Slickers). I can’t really comment much as to the quality of the Oscar nominees in this year because I still haven’t seen many of them (Thelma and Louise and JFK are on my list). My tastes tended esoteric in ’91. In one of the rare times I’ll list my top ten, they are as follows (going from two to ten):
What About Bob?
The Fisher King (I do love Gilliam)
The Commitments (awesome film about and Irish soul band)
The Double Life of Veronique (stunningly photographed and you’ll fall in love with Irene Jacob instantly)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (many find it doesn’t compare to the play, which I haven’t seen, but Oldman and Roth are great together)
The Silence of the Lambs
Europa Europa
Hot Shots!
Point Break
I’m sort of all over the map, taste-wise. But that’s a good lead-in to Barton Fink. After all, he’s an intellectual writer in touch with the streets who’s asked to write a wrestling picture. What he fails to realize (and it’s not the point of the film, I’m just trying to make a tenuous connection for my transition) is that there is room for both.

What struck me the first time I watched Barton Fink was how deliberate it is. Well, that and how awesome John Goodman is. The film is pretty dull upon first viewing, but something kept me coming back to where I watched it around three times in one year. Maybe it was the imagery of the peeling wallpaper. Or that I still haven’t figured out exactly how body got in bed with Barton. Or that the dialogue is incredibly well-written. Most likely, it was the blazing ending. Regardless, the film grew on me more after each viewing.

Typically, I enjoy the Coen brothers more when they are tackling out-there, quirky comedies. However, if there is one thing you can always count on from them, is that no matter how dark the subject matter, they always infuse their films with a comic streak. Tony Shalhoub owns every seen he is in (at the time I first saw Barton Fink, I only knew Shalhoub from Wings, so imagine my surprise at him A) not having an accent and B) playing this fast talking authority character). John Mahoney is similarly great as the alcoholic writer W.P. Mayhew. Of course, this is the one aspect that the Coen’s almost always get right. I don’t know if anyone casts better than they do. They have their stock people to bring back when needed (Goodman, Steve Buscemi, George Clooney, Ron Polito, etc) and fill in the gaps with amazing character actors. As talented as they are at writing dialogue, when you add in perfect actors, it’s really hard to make a bad film, no matter how inane the plot.
And, as a final note, Barton Fink is named-dropped, with much excitement, in The Simpsons. In the episode “Brother from the Same Planet,” a group of Bart’s school chums invite Bart to sneak into an R-rated movie with them. The film? “Barton Fink! Barton Fink!” (this ranks up there with Nelson’s dismissal of Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch, “I can think of two things wrong with that title”).