Barton Fink is one of the most interesting Coen Brothers movies to date. Unlike many other movies, this one is slow, almost painfully slow. However, there is a meaning in that slowness. The extremely sluggish pacing allows for some brilliant dry dialogue. This not only helps the dramatic moments, but the comedic as well. Generally, I’d say that it balanced the two fairly well, even though I did find myself getting bored quite often. What the movie does, is it puts caricatures in a mundane world. It shows this distinction in multiple ways, the slow pace being one of those. This is also shown through its wide variety of shots, often having average shots with themes of excitement. For example, one of the ways the movie tells time is through the wall paper slowly peeling. Because the movie only truly takes place in two or three locations, having this in nearly every scene is a brilliant indication of time.
Now, as I mentioned, the slow pace did get to me quite often, but there were other issues I had. For one, the main actor’s accent wasn’t at all consistent. It went between kind of British and deep Southern, almost always somewhere in between. Other than that, the acting was fine. Another small nitpick I’d note is how repetitive everything is. I’m usually ok with this, but when the movie nears being two hours, I end up having an issue with it. The exciting twist happens about 2/3 of the way into the movie. Honestly, while I appreciated the fact that the movie thrusted us into this world, I found that we didn’t need quite that long to get used to the life of the characters.
All in all, Barton Fink is a fine watch. It makes some interesting artistic choices, and is somewhat hard to describe due to its slow pacing. It’s too slow to necessarily be a comedy, but not dark enough to be anything purely dramatic. Overall, I’d give it a 6.7/10
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