Every once in a while a movie makes me think, ‘this one’s too good to review, just tell them to see it and they’ll understand.’ John Cusack is a penny-ante small stakes cheat, his girlfriend Annette Bening hooks on the side while seeking a partner for ‘long cons,’ and his mother is an operative for the Mob, placing large bets at the race track to manipulate the odds on select horses. Each worships the ‘left-handed form of human endeavor’ and depends on it to the degree that human trust just can’t be maintained. Paramount’s plain wrap re-issue touts the film’s four Oscar nominations; the Stephen Frears film is the best adaptation yet of a Jim Thompson crime novel.
The Grifters
Blu-ray + Digital
Paramount
1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / 13.99
Starring: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Noelle Harling, Charles Napier,...
The Grifters
Blu-ray + Digital
Paramount
1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 110 min. / Street Date July 27, 2021 / 13.99
Starring: John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening, Pat Hingle, J.T. Walsh, Noelle Harling, Charles Napier,...
- 9/7/2021
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
It seemed this year that if any artist was due for the retrospective treatment, it was "Unbroken" cinematographer Roger Deakins. While I of course did not address all of the 50-plus films he has shot throughout his illustrious career during a recent extended interview, I settled on a few in particular that I think represent a nice cross-section of his work. Each of them — "Nineteen Eighty-Four," "Sid and Nancy," "Barton Fink," "The Shawshank Redemption," "Kundun," "The Man Who Wasn't There" and "The Village" — will get their own space in the next few days. Save for a pair necessary detours with the likes of Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, Joel and Ethan Coen have utilized Roger Deakins' skills behind the camera for every single directorial outing since 1991's "Barton Fink." That's 11 movies, with a 12th — "Hail, Caesar!" — currently in production. For Deakins, that first collaboration nearly 25 years ago was a professional awakening.
- 12/23/2014
- by Kristopher Tapley
- Hitfix
Second and final part of our analysis of neo-noir classic The Grifters (1990, directed by Stephen Frears). Since the film’s costume designer Richard Hornung died in 1995, we asked his assistant costume designer on the project, Mark Bridges, for his own recollections (Part 1 Here).
We pick up the story as Lily (Angelica Huston) is confronted by her gangster employer Bobo (Pat Hingle). In fact we had a peek at Lily’s next outfit when she admits her son Roy (John Cusack) to hospital during the first act. It is a clean white scoop neck shift dress accessorised with tortoiseshell sunglasses and, seemingly without explanation, later a brown belt. White is an empty colour and on Lily it also implies loneliness and vulnerability, the latter of which she exudes during her conformation with Bobo. Proving that a dress is never just a dress on film, Mark Bridges explains the origins of this...
We pick up the story as Lily (Angelica Huston) is confronted by her gangster employer Bobo (Pat Hingle). In fact we had a peek at Lily’s next outfit when she admits her son Roy (John Cusack) to hospital during the first act. It is a clean white scoop neck shift dress accessorised with tortoiseshell sunglasses and, seemingly without explanation, later a brown belt. White is an empty colour and on Lily it also implies loneliness and vulnerability, the latter of which she exudes during her conformation with Bobo. Proving that a dress is never just a dress on film, Mark Bridges explains the origins of this...
- 6/20/2013
- by Chris Laverty
- Clothes on Film
Neo-noir is an unusual genre from a costume perspective because although rooted in reality it is generally not specific to one era or setting. This means a variety of influences fill the screen incorporating past, present and future suggesting a particular story could be told anywhere at any time. Yet with noir’s literary and cinematic heyday belonging to 1940s, certain period details are necessary in order to satisfy that vital element of the genre and its all subsidiaries: atmosphere.
The Grifters (1990, directed by Stephen Frears) is about as bleak as noir gets. Its central characters are shysters; they live on the wrong side of the law, fleece the innocent and, like addicts, remain locked in a cycle of risk and repeat, trapped by the thrill of the grift. The film is set in contemporary Los Angeles with familiar genre nods to the past, anywhere from the thirties to eighties,...
The Grifters (1990, directed by Stephen Frears) is about as bleak as noir gets. Its central characters are shysters; they live on the wrong side of the law, fleece the innocent and, like addicts, remain locked in a cycle of risk and repeat, trapped by the thrill of the grift. The film is set in contemporary Los Angeles with familiar genre nods to the past, anywhere from the thirties to eighties,...
- 6/6/2013
- by Chris Laverty
- Clothes on Film
CANNES -- Barton Fink is one weird guy. Equally quirky is the movie ''Barton Fink,'' something that'll come as no shock to those who've followed the zany movie output to date of filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (''Blood Simple,'' ''Raising Arizona,'' al.). The bizarre nature of both the dude and the film, however, does make it an extremely iffy item in the commercial market place.
''Barton'' is not easy to categorize; some will also find it hard to like.
On one hand, like ''Raising Arizona, '' the film is laced with an enormous amount of wit, and begins as if the Coens are about to deliver another satirical comedy, this time on the subject of Hollywood's treatment of serious writers.
But, almost in the middle of a laugh, ''Fink'' turns as serious as the Coens' ''Miller's Crossing, '' ultimately evolving into a bloody chiller with overtones of Emlyn Williams' classic thriller ''Night Must Fall.''
There are also reminders here of David Lynch at work, the Lynch of ''Blue Velvet'' and ''Wild in Heart.'' Certainly ''Barton Fink'' is the most offbeat thing the Cannes festival crowd has seen since ''Wild'' grabbed last year's top prize. Unlike the Lynch films, however, sex is not at the heart of ''Fink.''
For the Coens, it's that Hollywood angle that gets the treatment here. They especially zero in on writers who pontificate about being interested in the world (while never shutting up about themselves long enough to learn anything) but also leave plenty of space to throw darts at tacky studio bosses, insensitive producers and all the rest of the baggage that supposedly accompanies the Hollywood Experince.
John Turturro plays Barton Fink, a fictional wunderkind playwright on Broadway, circa 1941, who becomes an overnight sensation because of a gritty legiter he's penned. Hollywood immediately calls, and Fink goes West to continue his serious writing, but ends up assigned to churn out a screenplay about wrestling for Wallace Beery.
Initially, Fink is coddled by the studio boss (Michael Lerner, in a very funny send-up of Louis B. Mayer), who even goes so far as to get down on his knees to kiss Fink's shoes. But as Fink struggles with writer's block, his film's producer (Tony Shalhoub) treats him like a hunk of salami (''It's only a B-picture, '' snaps Shalhoub); a booze-addicted writer at the same studio (John Mahoney, terrific as a Scott Fitzgerald type) is pleasant but condesending; Mahoney's ''assistant'' (Judy Davis) is pleasant but preoccupied.
Fink's one good friend seems to be John Goodman, a bulky but exuberant salesman who rooms next door to Barton at the Hotel Earle (''Stay a day or a lifetime''). They meet when, through the thin walls, Fink hears Goodman sobbing -- or is he laughing? -- and alerts the hotel management, an action that begins a friendship and, at the same time, begins Barton Fink's undoing.
Soon the wunderkind is implicated in a grizzly murder he didn't commit, plus two decapitations. (A missing head may also be in that box he's carrying.) In one swoop, there's also the probability his career has been ruined and, worse yet, the chance his parents back in Brooklyn may be dead, due to an inadvertent action of his own.
Such a gear shift makes for strange bedfellows, and the transition between the comedic thrusts and the serious twists in ''Fink'' is often jarring. The Coens, however, consistently keep interest from ever lagging, also injecting enough eerie elements -- wallpaper that begins to come unglued during a heat wave, ever-present mosquitos biting and drawing blood, hotel hallways that look like unending tunnels minus any living beings -- to help lay the foundation for those shocker moments that eventually come. The finale is both blazing and macabre.
Turturro, who also has a high profile in Cannes this year via ''Jungle Fever, '' helps give ''Fink'' much of the off-beat demeanor the Coens were obviously aiming for. Looking like something between a nerd and Eraserhead, he makes a definitive picture of a super-serious, self-involved soul, clumping through the world minus the necessary spark plugs to adequately fit in, especially in any Hollywood scene. If he is sometimes less interesting than he should be, that has more to do with the Coens' script than with the actor's resources.
Goodman is terrific as the hotel neighbor, giving heft well beyond the physical aspect and making his moments among the most memorable in the film. It's also to the Coens credit that they have Davis as Mahoney's lady friend; it's an unusual piece of casting for the ''Passage to India''-''Impromptu'' star and she adds enormous stature to her brief but key role.
Lerner is hilarious as the studio boss, a caricature to be sure but never cartoonish. Shalhoub also makes a strong impression as the strictly Tinsel Town type.
Production designer Dennis Gassner has created a mesmerizing structure in the Hotel Earle set where much of the action transpires; interestingly, this is one film about Hollywood without a single scene taking place in or around traditional, glamourized landmarks. Once ''Fink'' hits the film capital, the entire script plays out at the somewhat sinister-looking hotel, or in a pair of studio offices, at a park site, by a pool, on a beach and, briefly, at a USO.
The dark look created by cinematographer Roger Deakins helps immeasurably in creating the somber mood that eventually dominates the film, editing by Roderick Jaynes is grade A and the costume designs by Richard Hornung are an excellent help in identifying the period and the personalities at large.
''Barton Fink, '' because of it's split personality, will pull a raft of devoted fans among those seeking the unusual, but the film's too skitzo to clock in wide popular acceptance. Word of mouth is also unlikely to be a help.
BARTON FINK
(United States)
Directed, produced, written byJoel and Ethal Coen
Co-producer Graham Place
Cinematographer Roger Deakins
Production desiger Dennis Gassner
Costumes Richard Hornung
EditorRoderick Jaynes
Music Carter Burwell
Executive producers Ben Barenholtz, Ted and Jim Pedas, Bill Durkin
Color
Cast:
Barton Fink John Turturro
Charlie Meadows John Goodman
Audrey Taylor Judy Davis
Jack Lipnick Michael Lerner
W.P. Mayhew John Mahoney
Lou Breeze Jon Polito Ben GeislerTony Shalhoub
Chet Steve Buscemi
Garland Stanford David Warrilow
Beauty Isabelle Townsend
Running time -- 116 minutes
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
''Barton'' is not easy to categorize; some will also find it hard to like.
On one hand, like ''Raising Arizona, '' the film is laced with an enormous amount of wit, and begins as if the Coens are about to deliver another satirical comedy, this time on the subject of Hollywood's treatment of serious writers.
But, almost in the middle of a laugh, ''Fink'' turns as serious as the Coens' ''Miller's Crossing, '' ultimately evolving into a bloody chiller with overtones of Emlyn Williams' classic thriller ''Night Must Fall.''
There are also reminders here of David Lynch at work, the Lynch of ''Blue Velvet'' and ''Wild in Heart.'' Certainly ''Barton Fink'' is the most offbeat thing the Cannes festival crowd has seen since ''Wild'' grabbed last year's top prize. Unlike the Lynch films, however, sex is not at the heart of ''Fink.''
For the Coens, it's that Hollywood angle that gets the treatment here. They especially zero in on writers who pontificate about being interested in the world (while never shutting up about themselves long enough to learn anything) but also leave plenty of space to throw darts at tacky studio bosses, insensitive producers and all the rest of the baggage that supposedly accompanies the Hollywood Experince.
John Turturro plays Barton Fink, a fictional wunderkind playwright on Broadway, circa 1941, who becomes an overnight sensation because of a gritty legiter he's penned. Hollywood immediately calls, and Fink goes West to continue his serious writing, but ends up assigned to churn out a screenplay about wrestling for Wallace Beery.
Initially, Fink is coddled by the studio boss (Michael Lerner, in a very funny send-up of Louis B. Mayer), who even goes so far as to get down on his knees to kiss Fink's shoes. But as Fink struggles with writer's block, his film's producer (Tony Shalhoub) treats him like a hunk of salami (''It's only a B-picture, '' snaps Shalhoub); a booze-addicted writer at the same studio (John Mahoney, terrific as a Scott Fitzgerald type) is pleasant but condesending; Mahoney's ''assistant'' (Judy Davis) is pleasant but preoccupied.
Fink's one good friend seems to be John Goodman, a bulky but exuberant salesman who rooms next door to Barton at the Hotel Earle (''Stay a day or a lifetime''). They meet when, through the thin walls, Fink hears Goodman sobbing -- or is he laughing? -- and alerts the hotel management, an action that begins a friendship and, at the same time, begins Barton Fink's undoing.
Soon the wunderkind is implicated in a grizzly murder he didn't commit, plus two decapitations. (A missing head may also be in that box he's carrying.) In one swoop, there's also the probability his career has been ruined and, worse yet, the chance his parents back in Brooklyn may be dead, due to an inadvertent action of his own.
Such a gear shift makes for strange bedfellows, and the transition between the comedic thrusts and the serious twists in ''Fink'' is often jarring. The Coens, however, consistently keep interest from ever lagging, also injecting enough eerie elements -- wallpaper that begins to come unglued during a heat wave, ever-present mosquitos biting and drawing blood, hotel hallways that look like unending tunnels minus any living beings -- to help lay the foundation for those shocker moments that eventually come. The finale is both blazing and macabre.
Turturro, who also has a high profile in Cannes this year via ''Jungle Fever, '' helps give ''Fink'' much of the off-beat demeanor the Coens were obviously aiming for. Looking like something between a nerd and Eraserhead, he makes a definitive picture of a super-serious, self-involved soul, clumping through the world minus the necessary spark plugs to adequately fit in, especially in any Hollywood scene. If he is sometimes less interesting than he should be, that has more to do with the Coens' script than with the actor's resources.
Goodman is terrific as the hotel neighbor, giving heft well beyond the physical aspect and making his moments among the most memorable in the film. It's also to the Coens credit that they have Davis as Mahoney's lady friend; it's an unusual piece of casting for the ''Passage to India''-''Impromptu'' star and she adds enormous stature to her brief but key role.
Lerner is hilarious as the studio boss, a caricature to be sure but never cartoonish. Shalhoub also makes a strong impression as the strictly Tinsel Town type.
Production designer Dennis Gassner has created a mesmerizing structure in the Hotel Earle set where much of the action transpires; interestingly, this is one film about Hollywood without a single scene taking place in or around traditional, glamourized landmarks. Once ''Fink'' hits the film capital, the entire script plays out at the somewhat sinister-looking hotel, or in a pair of studio offices, at a park site, by a pool, on a beach and, briefly, at a USO.
The dark look created by cinematographer Roger Deakins helps immeasurably in creating the somber mood that eventually dominates the film, editing by Roderick Jaynes is grade A and the costume designs by Richard Hornung are an excellent help in identifying the period and the personalities at large.
''Barton Fink, '' because of it's split personality, will pull a raft of devoted fans among those seeking the unusual, but the film's too skitzo to clock in wide popular acceptance. Word of mouth is also unlikely to be a help.
BARTON FINK
(United States)
Directed, produced, written byJoel and Ethal Coen
Co-producer Graham Place
Cinematographer Roger Deakins
Production desiger Dennis Gassner
Costumes Richard Hornung
EditorRoderick Jaynes
Music Carter Burwell
Executive producers Ben Barenholtz, Ted and Jim Pedas, Bill Durkin
Color
Cast:
Barton Fink John Turturro
Charlie Meadows John Goodman
Audrey Taylor Judy Davis
Jack Lipnick Michael Lerner
W.P. Mayhew John Mahoney
Lou Breeze Jon Polito Ben GeislerTony Shalhoub
Chet Steve Buscemi
Garland Stanford David Warrilow
Beauty Isabelle Townsend
Running time -- 116 minutes
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 5/20/1991
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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