BARTON FINK
With its Cannes win, this “writer’s nightmare” from the not-so-Golden Age of Hollywood launched the Coen brothers’ international reputation. New York playwright and “champion of the common man” Barton Fink (John Turturro) tries his luck writing for Hollywood and soon finds himself toiling hopelessly on a “wrestling picture” for Wallace Beery. Stricken with writer’s block, he begs his novelist hero W.P. “Bill” Mahew (John Mahoney) for help. But if Turturro weren not so self-involved, he might listen more closely to real common man Charlie Meadows (John Goodman), his neighbor at the seedy Hotel Earle, who “could tell you stories that would make your hair curl.” The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. DIR/SCR Joel Coen; SCR/PROD Ethan Coen. U.S./UK, 1991, color, 116 min. RATED R
Run Time: 116 Minutes
Opening Date: Friday, September 12, 2025
Genre: Comedy-drama, thriller
