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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (April 26, 2012)
movies BY RICK LEVIN The Dude Abides Another look at Coen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski A s an archetypal resident of L.A.’s shadier streets, the Dude abides, a latter-day California Buddha in the Holy Temple of Slackerdom, plum mystic and stoned immaculate, a knocker of pins, drinker of Caucasians. “He’s the man for his time and place,” says the man in the cowboy hat, his purple baritone of a voice rumbling like warm milk in your stomach. “He fi ts right in there.” That’s the Dude: an icon of that other, less epochal apocalypse, where the bastard 20th century simply whirled around and collapsed like pins in a bowling alley, barely noticed and then swept away for a brand-new set. So I’ll come clean and reveal myself to be the monkeyfucker I am (no, I don’t need to cuss so much, fuck you): Like any Coen Brothers’ movie, I saw The Big Lebowski when it debuted in 1998, and I haven’t seen it in its entirety since. It’s always struck me as one of the Coens’ minor efforts, a loose-limbed, bedazzled curiosity that sits like packing material between indubitable masterworks like Blood Simple, Miller’s Crossing and Fargo. And then, by the time I came to understand that Lebowski had taken permanent residence among the pomo cultural detritus of my generation — becoming perhaps the most quotable cult fi lm of the last 30 years — it seemed too late to pretend I’d always been hip to the Dude’s driftwood antics. If, however, there’s anything I’ve learned about Coen Brother fi lms, it’s that they not only reward a second look but also, by some inscrutable intrinsic dynamic, seem to demand it. Like the initial pass of opium through a blighted liver, a Coen movie cannot be processed the fi rst time around; only upon the second (and third, fourth, fi fth) viewing does their full genius begin to reveal itself. Nowhere is this more borne out than in No Country for Old Men, their Oscar-winning adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s vicious, gothic crime novel. The fi rst time I saw the movie, it actually bored me; but then, when I gave it a second chance — and knowing every suspenseful twist and explosive outcome — I was mesmerized. There is a moment in The Big Lebowski when the Dude (Jeff Bridges), realizing he’s being followed in his car, attempts a fantastic feat of California-style multi- tasking: With his eyes glued to the rear view mirror to watch the progress of his pursuer, he somehow manages simultaneously to steer, drink a brewski and polish off a tiny smoldering roach. Almost. Taking one fi nal tug on the joint, it drops burning into his lap, whereupon the Dude — screaming like a girl — upends the bottle, pouring beer into his crotch to extinguish the fi re. Doing a good 15 miles per hour, the Dude loses control and crashes into a dumpster, whereupon his car does a single endo about a foot into the air. I started laughing so hard I had to stop the movie. Wrapped, very loosely, around a weak, 4 /2 6 for April 26-May 5 THU FOOTNOTE A R T 5:10 7:30 492 East 13 th 686-2458 bijou-cinemas.com The Big Lebowski plays at David Minor Theater & Pub through May 9, with the annual “Big Lebowski Party” at 7:15 & 9:30pm May 3-4; davidminortheater.com 4/ 27 4/ 28 4/ 29 4/ 30 5/ 1 5/ 2 5/ 3 FRI SAT SUN MON TUE WED THU DISORIENT ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL CHECK FOR DETAILS FINAL SHOWING! C I N E M A S relatively negligible crime-noir plot that is part Raymond Chandler and part acid fl ashback, The Big Lebowski is a tour de force of deadpan comedy fobbed off as a buddy action fl ick, and as such, the movie could never be considered a something greater than the sum of its parts. It is exactly in its constituent parts that Lebowski locates its raison d’être: Bridges, in one of his fi nest performances, as the personifi cation of the Eastern principle of passive suffering, a man jerked (and jerked around) here and there by forces he is incapable of comprehending; the always excellent John Goodman as a converted Jew Vietnam vet whack job; John Turturro as the metrosexual Hispanic bowler Jesus; Steve Buscemi brilliantly barely registering; a very sexy, very funny Julianne Moore as a cold, calculating protofeminist arts freak. Thanks to the cast’s complete immersion and faith in the material, combined with the Coen Bros.’ technical perfectionism (as well as their seriously underrated sense of humor), The Big Lebowski goes aces in — and from a movie about nothing arises, all shits and giggles, a complete mythology for our dark, dangerous times. What more could you ask from a fi lm that features Aimee Mann playing a mumbling Nihilist who sacrifi ces her toe for a briefcase full of John Goodman’s dirty underwear? ew NEXT: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW $10 5/4 & 5/5 JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI THE RAID www.disorientfilm.org DAMSELS IN DISTRESS NO BIJOU PASSES THE KID WITH A BIKE WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN 5:00 5:00 5:00 5:00 7:30 7:30 7:30 7:30 H.P. LOVECRAFT DOUBLE FEATURE: THE WHISPERER IN DARKNESS (2011) & THE CALL OF CTHULHU (2005) 9:15 LATENITE PASSES ACCEPTED! A CITY OF SADNESS (1989) FREE! 6:00 SPONSORED BY UO CINEMA STUDIES DEPT. & SCREENED FROM AN ARCHIVAL 35 MM PRINT *Adults—$7 * Students w/ID—$6 * Seniors—$5 * Matinees—$5 * Miser Mondays—$3* TIX $2 Tix 21 & FOOD $5 Sun & Tues ovER MENU 762-1700 | 180 E. 5TH AVE Asian Food Market davidminortheater.com THURS APR 26 – WED MAY 2 THU Largest Selection of OSCAR WINNER Asian Groceries SHAME 5:00 THE D DESCENDANTS C CONTRABAND 7:05 5:00 Seaweed, rice, noodles, frozen products, deli, snacks, drinks, sauces, spices, produce, housewares, and more. We carry groceries from Holland, India, Pakistan and Polynesia Sushi & Asian deli take-out THE IRON LADY 7:05 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO 9:00 THE BIG LEBOWSKI 9:00 BIG BI G LE LEB LEBOWSKI B O WS BO WSKI KI PARTY P AR ART T Y 2 TY 2012 012 01 2 MAY 3 & 4 “TEXT-A-BEER” 541-913-5733 ORDER DRINKS & FOOD RIGHT FROM YOUR SEAT WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM 29TH AVENUE 5 OAK STREET SHOPPING CENTER WILLAMETTE STREET WoodÀ eld Station Sunrise www.sunriseasianfood.com M-Th 9am-7pm•F 9am-8pm•Sa 9am-7pm•Su 10am-6pm 70 W. 29th Ave. Eugene • 541-343-3295 EUGENE WEEKLY APRIL 26, 2012 23
