As a result of Pyat Themouses noble persistence, I am slowly filling in the gaps in my Coen brother’s watching. A few nights ago we watched The Big Lebowski. I initially disliked it because I had been expecting something else, but the more I thought about it, the more it began to appeal to me. I began to really embrace the kind of… I dunno… film blanche aspect of it – a kind of complete inversion of film noir. I mean The Dude is kind of the perfect anti-iconic-hero. He is the essence of Robin D. Laws’s iconic character, in that in opposition to the dramatic character, he changes the world, he is not changed by it – I mean he says it right at the end: “The Dude Abides”. Except that he totally fails to change the world as well. He’s kind of… I dunno… he’s a light thrown on the traditional film noir iconic hero – whether that light is critical, satirical, comical, tragical, or tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, I leave to deeper minds than mine to figure out. But the point is, imagine The Dude while you read Chandler’s famous formula, or compare it with the opening monologue of the movie, and I think you cannot help but see the touch of the Coen brothers’ genius… “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.” “I only mention it because sometimes theres a man... I wont say a hero, cause, whats a hero? Sometimes, theres a man. And Im talkin about the Dude here - the Dude from Los Angeles. Sometimes, theres a man, well, hes the man for his time and place. He fits right in there… Sometimes theres a man, sometimes, theres a man. Well, I lost my train of thought here. But... aw, hell. Ive done introduced it enough.” But in the end though, I think the real star of the movie was John Goodman’s Walter – his was the more rounded, complete, complicated and human character and he did a masterful job of being ridiculous without ever being a parody – he followed the actor’s dictum that one must always find something to love in one’s character. Also, he’s the energy that galvanizes The Dude, so he is, in fact, the driving force of the movie. Walter also struck me as a combination between a gamer and the kind of character a gamer in a modern LA mystery setting would create, which endeared me to him enormously. But I think the other really important part about Walter is that, given that the main characters of the film never actually do affect the world around them, it ends up being a study of relationships, and I think their relationship is kind of beautiful – especially the bit between them on the cliff at the end. Like John Goodman’s entire performance, Walter’s last dialogue in the film is totally ridiculous, totally inadequate and totally heart-felt and so kind of heart breaking.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 16:40:55 +0000
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