The Big Lebowski (1998)

Director: Joel Coen

Story: Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore

Music: Carter Burwell

Time: 117 minutes

Bottom-line: You’ll be rolling over laughing in no time!

The Coens make their second comedy film following Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski. Starring Jeff Bridges – in one of his most iconic roles – John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi and David Huddleston, the film is infamous for having no plot at all, but has become a classic in the comedy genre.

 

(From left) Bridges as The Dude, Buscemi as
Donny and Goodman as Walter

1991, LA: Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski (Bridges) is a slacker who regularly hangs out at the bowling alley with his friends, Walter (Goodman) and Donny (Buscemi). Walter is an extremely short-tempered, foul-mouthed Vietnam war veteran, and Donny is timid and shy. The Dude is attacked by two goons at his house, who claim that his wife owes money to a porn magnate; they also urinate on his rug. The Dude finds out that there exists another man with the same name: Jeff “The Big” Lebowski (Huddleston) – a cantankerous millionaire – to whom he goes to get a new rug (and later steals one!). Things get complicated when Lebowski’s wife is kidnapped, and he hires The Dude to deliver the ransom, but Walter decides to dupe Lebowski and the kidnappers and keep the million-dollar ransom. The Dude later meets Lebowski’s daughter, Maude (Moore), who says that the kidnapping is a scheme by Lebowski himself. Whose money has gone where, and who is the target?

Huddleston as "The Big" Lebowski

 From creating a religion called “Dudeism” to having African spider species being named after the characters, to designing meme templates, the film’s cultural impact is huge. Despite mixed reviews initially, the film has then achieved cult status. Jeff Bridges is hilarious in his portrayal of the laziest person on the planet, with his constant drunkenness and carefree attitude. John Goodman’s role is the comic version of Joe Pesci’s Tommy DeVito. Using a cuss word in every sentence, his insanely violent behaviour and anger provide a lot of humour. Of course, Walter’s character is the one responsible for the domino effect of events that happen to The Dude.

 

Moore as Maude

The eclectic soundtrack is another highlight, not something that the Coens employ in their other films. The cinematography by Roger Deakins is also brilliant, particularly the dream sequences with a lot of fantasy imagery and effects. This is the first film to use the point-of-view technique from inside a rolling ball. The last half hour of the movie makes absolutely no sense, or if they do make sense, then the film so far, doesn’t. The cowboy who talks directly to the camera before the closing credits just gives us an idea of the future of the characters, but himself admits that he has lost track of events. The plot twists, however, give us something to look out for, all the way.

 

The meme template inspired by this film

But this is a film to be enjoyed for its idiosyncrasies, its lunatic characters and dialogues. From the character intros, to the comic mix-ups, to the insults, it’s non-stop humour, and there’s no compromise on that. While the cursing might be a little hard on the ears, the hysterical visuals will get you laughing in no time. That’s the only take away from The Big Lebowski.      

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81%

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)

Director: Joel Coen

Story: Joel and Ethan Coen

Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand

Music: Carter Burwell

Time: 116 minutes

Bottom-line: Along the lines of a David Lynch film, but well-made

If it had not been for the opening credits, I would have certainly thought that this was a David Lynch film. Starring Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand (yet another collaboration with the Coens) in the lead roles, with James Gandolfini, Jon Polito, Tony Shalhoub and Scarlett Johansson in the supporting cast, the neo-noir is the sad tale of how a chain reaction of blackmail and trickery destroy a man and his wife.

 

McDormand as Doris, and Thornton
as Ed

1949, California: Ed Crane (Thornton) is a low-key barber (and the narrator), who works with his brother, Frank. Ed’s wife, Doris (McDormand) is a bookkeeper with a drinking problem. Ed suspects – and correctly guesses – that Doris is having an affair with her boss, Dave (Gandolfini). One day, a businessman, Tolliver (Polito) meets Ed and proposes a new idea: dry-cleaning. He says he will take care of the entrepreneurship, and will split the profit 50-50 with Ed, if he agrees to be an investor and lend $10000 for the purpose. Intrigued by this, Ed decides to blackmail Dave about the affair, to get the money, and Dave embezzles the money from his store. Dave eventually realises that Ed is behind this, and he confronts Ed, saying he has beat-up Tolliver, who talked. Ed stabs Dave to death, but the blame is put on Doris, who is arrested. Ed and his brother spend a fortune to hire an expensive lawyer, Freddy, (Shalhoub) to defend Doris. Tortured by guilt and financial problems, how long can Ed bear the burden?

 

Gandolfini as Dave

The fact that the firm is in black-and-white makes it all the more noir-ish, to highlight that everyone is a “grey” character. The story shows how everyone who commits a crime will be punished in one way or the other – the unfaithful wife, the cheating businessman, the lying boss, and the blackmailer. Ed’s character often repeats the fact that he is “just” a barber, implying that he is an everyman, a nobody. But again, fate has a cruel way of giving one his own medicine. The film is a long road of gradual and total destruction of two people’s lives. The ending suddenly becomes a bit weird, with a lot of philosophical stuff to ponder over, but this is a “cleaner” climax compared to the other open-ended ones of the Coens’ films.

 

Polito as Tolliver

Billy Bob Thornton has a constant glum expression throughout the film, but I guess that’s how his character is designed (as I said, Ed’s character is “just” a barber; he admits that he rarely talks, while his brother is the opposite). Constantly in doubt between right and wrong, troubled by guilt and slowly running out of options, seeing the fate of his character is quite depressing. Frances McDormand and Gandolfini’s roles are also good. I found the scenes where Ed, Doris and Freddy plan out their case some of the best parts of the film – husband and wife not willing to admit their crimes, and Freddy desperate to save his reputation by finding out loopholes in the case that can get Doris out. There is one part where Ed even admits that he committed the crime, but Freddie thinks it’s his idea to get himself arrested instead of Doris, and rejects it! The tension in the atmosphere is extreme, and the brilliant cinematography - with that eerie visual of sunlight entering through the grilled window - highlights it!

Shalhoub as Freddie

The plot twists, the interplay of fate in the tales of the characters, the acting and the cinematography are the highlights of The Man Who Wasn’t There. It might not be a satisfying climax – given the depressing tone of the entire film – and it is a disturbing watch, but it is worth it.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Rotten Tomatoes rating: 81% 

Kalaignan (1993)

English translation: Artist

Director: G. B. Vijay

Story: G. B. Vijay

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Bindhya

Music: Ilayaraaja

Time: 143 minutes

Bottom-line: Unfurls at break-neck pace; a tense murder-mystery

One of Kamal Hassan’s most underrated films (I can’t imagine why!), this 1993 thriller stars Kamal and Bindhya in the lead roles, with Sivaranjani and Nassar in the supporting roles. A film more violent than its contemporaries, I still consider it to be one of the best mystery films in Tamil cinema history, and of course, it features one of my most favourite songs from Indian cinema: Enthan Nenjil Neengaatha.

A Tamil pop singer based in Bangalore, Inderjeet (Hassan), has a large following among his female fans. The film opens with one dancer in his troop, Sandhya (Sivaranjani), having her throat slit and being thrown off a building to her death. Sandhya’s sister, Divya (Bindhya) comes to Bangalore to find out the killer. She runs into Inderjeet by mistake, but is angered at his haughtiness and short-temper. After he saves her from a bunch of thugs, she starts to become closer to him. The police detective (Nassar) warns her that the chief suspect in the murder is Inderjeet himself, and sure enough, as Bindhya enquires about him, she finds more incriminating evidence. With another fan of Inderjeet being murdered in the same way, the police and Divya confront Inderjeet, and he comes clean with his version of the truth. Is he really the murderer? Or is someone framing him?

 

Hassan as Inderjeet

Kalaignan brilliantly blends violence, drama, mystery and revenge in one neat package. Through clever camerawork, the audience is lured into believing that Inderjeet is the murderer. The different stories told by a cab driver and visual image of Inderjeet’s pair of gloves emphasise his guilt all the more. Inderjeet’s version of the truth brings in a lot of further twists. There is always a constant dilemma over which character is good and who is not. The only thing that plays spoilsport in the tense suspense is the car chase in the climax.

 

Bindhya as Divya

The murder scenes are a bit grotesque to watch, but the camerawork throughout the film is masterfully done. The music is not that great except for the one aforementioned song. Kamal Hassan – as always – has given an impressive performance. Seeing him “appear” in a villainous role was again, exciting to watch (after his role in Sigappu Rojakkal). Bindhya’s performance was also good.  

With highly satisfying plot twists (and ending), terrific pace of storytelling and good acting, Kalaignan may not be Kamal’s best movie, but is definitely worth a watch for all those wanting a good thriller.

My Rating: 3.5/5