dr. gonzo

After the darkly surreal, snowswept landscapes of the Minnesota depicted in Fargo (1996), the Coen brothers have wisely opted for a different locale with The Big Lebowski. Set in Los Angeles (circa 1991 during the Persian Gulf War), this film tells a decidedly unconventional

tale about a man known as The Dude.

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is a laid-back

kinda guy, an aging Hippie who spends his days drinking

White Russians, smoking pot, and bowling with his buddies. One day, this all changes when two thugs invade

his home, rough him up, and urinate on his rug. It seems

that they have The Dude confused with another Lebowski,

a rich millionaire whose young wife owes money all over

town.

Bummed at having his prized rug ruined, The Dude decides to contact the other Lebowski and in doing so becomes immersed in a very strange, convoluted plot that

involves nihilists, a kidnapping, Busby Berkley dream sequences, British performance artists, and bowling.

Sound a little strange? It's all par for the course with the

Coen brothers, a clever filmmaking duo that loves tweaking

existing genres to the point that they become something

very different and distinctly Coenesque.

This includes fully-realized characters, both major and

minor, that have their own unique habits and mannerisms.

Most films do not take the time to flesh out their respective

worlds or the characters that live in them but this is not the

case with the Coens.

The world that the Coens create in The Big Lebowski is

populated by a humourous and often bizarre collection of

characters that range from an obnoxiously narcissistic

bowler (John Turturro) to a feminist performance artist/painter of the British persuasion (Julianne Moore).

You would think that all of these wildly eccentric characters

would overshadow the main character, but they merely enhance the wonderful performance by Jeff Bridges, who is

the heart and soul of The Big Lebowski. He creates mannerisms and habits that flesh out his character perfectly. From the first time we see him, Bridges is The

Dude. And even though he is a down-and-out loser, there

is something undeniably likable about him, and this is due

in large part to Bridges' performance.

The Big Lebowski may not have the dramatic weight or substance of Fargo, but it has a distinctive charm uniquely

its own. Instead, the Coens have done what Robert Altman

did in the '70s with The Long Goodbye: use the hard-boiled

world of Raymond Chandler has a starting point to satirize

Los Angeles culture. Like Altman's film, The Big Lebowski

dispenses with conventional narrative in favour of atmosphere and colourful characters. The joy of this film is

in watching the entertaining diversions, subplots and minor

characters and how The Dude interacts with them all. You're not supposed to really care about what happens to

the convoluted storyline or how it is resolved. That is merely

window-dressing for the Coens to showcase this highly engaging world that they've created.

I have to admit that when i first saw the trailer for this film, I thought, "Sweet Jesus, this looks a lot like Rushmore!" complete with a dishelved Michael Douglas doing the Bill Murray/Mr. Blume thing and Tobey Maguire as a rambunctious, upstart kid a la Max Fischer. Man, was I wrong. Wonder Boys is the kind of small, oddball little film with a definite, quirky, dark sense of humour and a cast of eccentric characters that are never colourful for the sake of it. Michael Douglas disappears completely into the role of Grady Tripp, a burnt out English professor, who once wrote a much celebrated novel but has since been having a hard time with his follow-up. He just keeps writing and writing with no end in sight (current page count sits around 2100 pages!). the film starts at the beginning of a truly hellish day for Tripp as his wife leaves him, his girlfriend tells him she's pregnant and he almost gets killed by her husband's blind dog. throw in an eccentric writing protege (Tobey Maguire), Tripp's bi-sexual literary agent (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his transvestite date, and you've got quite an interesting mix of characters. in some ways, Douglas' character is a pot-smoking burn-out like the Dude from THE BIG LEBOWSKI. he is content to live outside of society, putt around, write his novel, teaching his classes but when he crosses paths with Maguire's character, he realizes that he's got to change. Douglas is more than up for this role. i'm not a huge fan of the man's work (WALL STREET and THE GAME excepted) but he's perfectly cast in this film. he hits just the right note of world-weary cynicism but with a romantic streak buried underneath. you can tell that he's got the capacity to do something about his miserable lot in life and during the course of the film his character undergoes a fascinating arc. the real stand out of this film, though, is Tobey Maguire. i've only seen him in a few things, here and there and i never really noticed him all that much before (although, he was great in PLEASANTVILLE. everyone in the film keeps harping on what a genius writer Douglas' character is, but it quickly becomes apparent that Maguire's character is the true genius. he writes pages and pages of beautiful prose in minutes. and like any true talent, it just comes pouring out of him effortlessly. Maguire nails that kind of visionary talent perfectly. his character is so different from his peers and you are never sure what makes him tick, until 3/4 of the way through when another side of his intriguing personality is revealed. at first, you think his character is pretty one-dimensional -- the oddball genius -- but Maguire provides all sorts of layers and subtle nuances to his character that are great to watch. it doesn't hurt that Steve Kloves' script is a solid piece of writing. clever, insightful dialogue that tells you volumes about these characters. the dialogue is humourous and offbeat in one scene, touching and thoughtful in the next. Kloves also wisely avoids the usual cliches... ie. the romance between the older man and younger woman. just when you think it's going to go there, the film veers off to something different and better. every character has their moment to really define themselves with the possible exception of Katie Holmes who seems to be sorely underused. which is too bad, really, because the scenes she does have are good. it's nice to see that she can do more than just DAWSON'S CREEK. and lastly, the mood and atmosphere of this movie is so magical. to me, the best films are ones that you lose yourself in completely. the characters and the world they inhabit are so real, so three-dimensional that you can't help but get sucked in. WONDER BOYS does that so well. the attention to detail -- a snowy winter in Pittsburgh -- is beautiful realized. esp. the night time scenes, like one in which Douglas and Maguire talk outside in a backyard while the snow falls gently around them... are so well done, i felt like i was right there. and isn't that what a good film should do? make it able for you to escape for a couple of hours? hard to believe that the guy who made L.A. CONFIDENTIAL did this one. a complete change of pace and mood and... everything. amazing stuff. anyways, i reallly dug WONDER BOYS. it's the first film i've seen this year that has really affected me in a profoundly personal way. a film that as soon as it was over, i wanted to go right back in and watch it again.

Have you ever spent hours organizing your record collection in chronological order and by genre? Have you

ever had heated debates with your friends about the merits

of a band who lost one of its founding members? Or argued about your top five favourite B-sides? If so, chances

are you will love High Fidelity, a film for and about characters obsessed with their favourite bands and music.

Rob Gordon (John Cusack) is an obsessed music junkie who owns a record store called Championship Vinyl. He has just broken up with Laura (Iben Hjejle), a long-time

girlfriend and the latest in a countless string of failed

relationships. Rob addresses us directly throughout the

film (just like Woody Allen did in his 1977 film, Annie Hall)

about this latest breakup and how his top five break-ups of

all-time inform his most recent one. It's a great way for

which Rob to try and come to terms with his shortcomings

and the reasons why his past relationships did not work

out. He is talking directly to us and in doing so we relate to

him and his dilemma a lot easier.

Along the way we meet a colourful assortment of characters, from his past girlfriends (that includes the

diverse likes of Lili Taylor and Catherine Zeta Jones) to his

co-workers at Championship Vinyl (Jack Black and Todd Louiso). They really flesh out the film to such a degree that I

felt like I was seeing aspects of my friends and myself in

these characters. Being a self-confessed obsessive type

when it comes to music and film, I could easily relate to

these people and their problems.

And that's why High Fidelity works so well for me. The

extremely funny and wryly observant script by D.V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and John Cusack (the same team

behind the excellent Grosse Pointe Blank) not only zeroes

in on what it is to love something so passionately but why

other things (like relationships) often take a backseat as a

result. A girlfriend might not always be there for you, but

your favourite album or film will. A song will never judge you

or walk out on you and there is a kind of comfort in that.

The screenplay also makes some fantastic observations on how men view love and relationships. Throughout the

film Cusack's character delivers several monologues to us

about his thoughts on past love affairs, one of my favourite

being the top five things he liked about Laura. It's a

touching, hopelessly romantic speech that reminded me a

lot of Woody Allen's list of things to live for in Manhattan

(1979).

The screenplay works so well because not only it is well

written but it also features a solid ensemble cast. The role

of Rob Gordon is clearly tailor-made for John Cusack. Rob

contains all the trademarks of the kinds of characters he's

known for: the cynical, self-deprecating humour, the love of

‘80s music, and the inability to commit to the woman of his

dreams. Even though High Fidelity is not directed by Cusack, like Grosse Pointe Blank, it is clearly his film, right

down to the casting of friends in front of and behind the

camera (i.e. actors Tim Robbins, Lili Taylor, his sister

Joan, and screenwriters, D.V. DeVincentis and Steve Pink).

The rest of the cast is also fantastic, in particular, Jack

Black and Todd Louiso as the two guys who work at Championship Vinyl. Louiso's Dick is a shy, introverted guy

that you can imagine listening to The Smiths religiously,

while Black's Barry is a rude, annoying blowhard who says

everything you wish you could actually say in public. It's a

flashy, scene-stealing role that Black does to perfection.

And yet, his character isn't overused and only appears at

the right moments and for maximum comic effect. His sparing usage in High Fidelity made me want to see more

of him, which is why he works so well.

Even though the world and the characters in High Fidelity

are unashamedly of a rarified type: the obsessive music

geek or elitist, which some people may have trouble relating to, the film's conclusion suggests that there is

much more to life than one's all-consuming passion for

these things. It also helps to be passionate about someone. And that message is delivered in a refreshingly

honest and cliché-free fashion as it provides what is ultimately the humanist core of High Fidelity.