Barton Fink

Defying genres, the Coens hit a surreal highpoint in their gleefully Lynchian satire of 1940s Hollywood, recognised as a tart selfportrait that exorcised their frustrations with the industry, and was seen as their turning point with a triple-win at Cannes. After scoring a Broadway hit, vainglorious playwright Barton Fink is whisked off to Tinseltown, only to be charged with writing formulaic wrestling pictures. As loneliness and writer’s block threaten to engulf him, his dilapidated hotel room devolves into a claustrophobic hellscape of peeling wallpaper and cacophonous plumbing as he searches for ’that Barton Fink feeling’ in an apocalyptic vision of blood, flames and ruin.

Cannes Film Festival: Palme d'Or, Best Director and Best Actor