The Big Lebowski

“I fuck you ups, man!” If I tell you that this silly sounding statement is the one that encapsulates what I felt about the Coen Brothers cult classic and masterpiece (one of many), you would either dismiss me as a surface level watcher of cinema at best and horribly inarticulate at worst. But, well, that’s just like your opinion, man. You know, everyone has one of those moments where he/she finds something that sends him/her into spits and when they try to explain that to someone, they just end up describing a very unfunny version of the funny thing, inducing perhaps an uncomfortable laughter from those who are trying to indulge you politely. Well, the people who have watched The Big Lebowski are a large group of such individuals who will have an incredibly hard time explaining that why they roll on the floor laughing every time Walter (played by an immaculate John Goodman) inserts Vietnam into any conversation. Or why is every seemingly dull, uncaring dialogue delivered by The Dude is so hilariously quotable. But to the ones who have watched the movie, it is an eternal bond of mutual appreciation of comical depth that can bind any even two people of vastly different cultures together. 

So many films have been and continued described using the precise words: “Its not a movie, it’s an experience.” With the mass dissemination of online content, a bit of hyperbole seeps into every form of writing, including film appreciation. So when a film that is visually inventive, it is often described as a once in a lifetime experience. But in my dictionary (which by no means do I claim to be superior), an experience has to be memorable to distinguish it from fleeting feelings of excitement or any other roller coster of emotions. If one doesn’t remember exactly how one felt during the moment one experienced it, the time doesn’t have a permanent memorable tag attached to it, that one could use to reflect often. The Big Lebowski, if you get it, is certainly what I would call an experience, a time to remember and regularly revisit on different platforms online, rejoice with the fellow experiencers. 

But all this suggests an obscure genius and exclusiveness about the movie (à la the HBO classic The Wire), which couldn’t be much further from the truth. There isn’t even mock seriousness or any scathing satire regarding anything worth a social commentary. It is a truly a film about nothing, yet has the essence of everything in life. The themes, if you could say so explored in the film often run into paradoxical (and of course, hilarious) hurdles. Like the nihilists looking for ransom money and in the end complaining about unfairness of their situation. Like the sermon spouting Mr Lebowski who turns out to be miserable old man desperate for trust fund money. One could argue that paradoxes are deliberate plot devices employed by the Coens to induce hilarity as the plot progresses. But, in my opinion, that still does not encapsulate why everything about the film is so funny. Its not just the well executed tropes of comedy and gags executed perfectly (Shaun of the Dead being a good example), the film has managed to transcend the genre boundaries of comedy, mostly propelled by the memorable characters. Every scene just fits perfectly into the grand scheme of the movie and the characters are allowed to live onscreen, without the creators gagging them with agendas and conventions. If one could compare, the brilliant show Louie by the titular Louie CK lives up to the essence of The Big Lebowski, wonderfully escaping the even tighter genre conventions of TV comedies, such that every moment and the characters feel alive. 

What the Coen accomplished in this beast of a film that defies any narrative technique will be impossible to imitate. However, inspire it will, many to come and Louis CK has shown that how TV can push these genre boundaries too and combine relatable and quotable with style, creating something that is the cinematic version of pure joy. Also a seasoning of melancholy is also not too out of place in a comedy if one tries to do something truly different as the Cinema world should be thankful of the Coens for doing.