A+

Yet another Coens' masterpiece.

I can't even remember what I rated this. I liked it though. I think it was a B or possibly a B-. Nothing higher or lower.

Quite possibly the Coens most introspective, yet most interesting work. I'll admit after the viewing I knew I wasn't grasping all they were saying, but I read some more on the internet and it all came through.

It's pretty fucking brilliant how the first 2/3s contrasts the last act and ties into the satire on Hollywood... in the first 2/3s, nothing really happens, it's just Barton sitting around in his apartment wrestling with his mind, unable to find his meaning. There's no plot at all. This is totally contradictary to the Hollywood model, in other words, it's what populates Barton's eventual script. He trys to find inspiration, but all he hears is "consult another writer". He thinks he does in Mayhew, but secretly he's a phony. Then, Barton consults Audrey, the other writer who knows the Hollywood model and can get the plot going for him. Thus, the movie instantly shifts into the Hollywood model of a typical murder mystery/serial killer story. This is complete a good guy turned bad twist, the overly snarky cops, and a best of all, a huge fiery action climax with surreal stage-like fire, with the hero being saved by a guy bending metal with his bare hands. In other words, it's a huge satire of the Hollywood assembly factory, and the Coens are shoving it to them while displaying their own demention with trying to create outside of it.

It also reaches a whole new level of meta and self-perspection when you consider that like Fellini, this was written in a period where they had writer's block and couldn't finish their script for Miller's Crossing. Barton pretty much is them, right down to the same Jew with bad hair and glasses appearance and demeanour. Barton's inability to write in the Hollywood model represents theirs... and this movie is their release of that inner turmoil, similar to 8 1/2. Perhaps the Coens realized after making this film that like Barton, they were too concerned with making a difference and making something important, they were acting too self-important without listening to anyone, thus stopping their ability to write. So as the character is realized as a self-centered hack, the Coens release their pressure on themselves and move on.

It's also interesting that this movie is chalk full of references to other films and such, the hotel is like the Shining, the director sitting poolside is from a lot of movies, Buscemi's bellboy seems to run down the formula of people in that role, etc. (there's some more from movies that I haven't seen like Polanski's The Tenant, that I picked up on later) The woman on the beach... I think she represents the idealized Hollywood picture of beauty, which is why Barton assumes she's an actress. I also think that in the final shot when Barton is looking at the woman on the beach, this time in real life instead of the hotel room, it represents that his inner demention is ongoing, and exists even away from the room or the typewriter. He may be out of the hotel room, but he will never be out of his head. Or something like that. This movie can be interpreted a lot of different ways, I've read a pretty good one that says the entire third act is imagined, it's simply him trying to come up with stuff and doing it by twisting the ordinary and bland people he knows into Hollywood-ized figures and storylines, and when he's looking at the woman at the end, he's looking at the picture. I think what the Coens are saying comes out either way, though.

Punctuating everything is the masterful direction and acting. John Turturro gives one of his best performances in one of his best roles, Goodman, Mahoney, Davis are all truly excellent. Deakins' cinematography is as great as ever, the long gaping shots of the hallway and the Coens' usage of the damp, enclosing room itself is simply perfect.

Without a doubt, a total masterpiece. Quite possibly the Coens' best and one of the best movies I've seen.

5/5

Such great performances. Turturro and Goodman really shine here, they make those characters seem so real. Beautifully shot. I think this is a sadly overlooked masterpiece.

This may end up being one of my favorite Coen Bros. films. Turturro and Goodman are just aces here and although it is a very light film, it is so damn entertaining. Just a great comedic film with good ol' Coen Bros. touch.

This is a very clever and inspired film, but I must admit, I am almost never in the mood to revisit it, whereas I return again and again and again to films such as Miller's Crossing and Raising Arizona.

Definitely one of the most layered and fascinating Coen Bros. pictures, along with No Country and A Serious Man.

The final Coen bros movie! For me anyways, I've now completed my card.

Surprisingly well-written for a story about writers block. At least in terms of dialogue. I think the story got lost somewhere along the way. There's really no build up to the reveal that John Goodman is the devil. It just felt like something had to happen in the story at that point, so why not go ahead and kill the only women in the picture?

The Coens bring their usual style and their actors bring their usual A-game though. This is basically just a bonus movie too, one that would never exist if not for writers block itself. So I'll give it a B.

Big list time!

1. The Big Lebowski
2. Miller's Crossing
3. The Hudsucker Proxy
4. True Grit
5. Hail Caesar
6. No Country For Old Men
7. Inside Llewyn Davis
(Bridge of Spies)
8. Fargo
9. Raising Arizona
10. O Brother Where Art Thou?
11. The Ballad of Buster Suggs
12. A Serious Man
13. Barton Fink
14. Burn After Reading
15. The Man Who Wasn't There
(The Tragedy of Macbeth)
16. The Ladykillers
17. Intolerable Cruelty
18. Blood Simple

I think I got them all. I guess I still need to see Crimewave. I know they didn't direct it, but it looks cool.