Sunday, April 20, 2008

Big Lebowski - Donnie's Ashes Scene



Ok, as you can tell, I'm a big Coen Brothers fan. The Big Lebowski may actually be their funniest (sorry Raising Arizona). The story surrounds "The Dude", played by Jeff Bridges. The Dude is an old burned out hippie who is not particularly goal-oriented(to put it kindly).

Like so many of the Coen Brothers films, you'll enjoy it the first time you see it. But you won't truly appreciate it until the second or third time around. The first time you see a Coen film is like a palette cleanser. The second time is when you can really taste what they're going for.

A little rant here: How on God's green earth did Jeff Bridges not even get an oscar nomination for his role as The Dude? This has got to be one of the greatest performances I have ever seen. He plays the good hearted but lazy character to perfection. I've met people like that and even if you haven't, you feel like you want to. He doesn't play it as a characiture.

The scene above shows the grandiose comedic style of The Big Lebowski. In the scene, The Dude and Walter (played brilliantly by John Goodman) are going to throw their friends ashes by the ocean. Normally when you see this in a film, its really beautiful and the ashes scatter everywhere in the distance. Well, you can see what happens in The Big Lebowski.

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