On A Serious Coen Bender

“The Dude Abides.”

What “Dude,” you ask? Well, if it’s Jeff Bridges’ character in the cult classic, The Big Lebowski, then the Dude is a worn out, spaced out, teetering-on-the-edge of transcendent stoner / philosopher. But if you ask Cathleen Falsani, author of the new book The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, she’ll say the Dude represents Someone much, much bigger.

Perhaps it’s the way they tackle these “big issues” with wit, humor, gore, and commonsensical profundity, but Joel and Ethan Coen are quickly becoming some of my favorite “culture makers.”

Okay, so it took me a few viewings to appreciate The Big Lebowski. I’ve since discovered that leaving the theater scratching your head is a matter-of-course for viewers of the Coen’s films. I did it with Barton Fink. I did it with The Man Who Wasn’t There. I did it with No Country for Old Men. I did it with Burn After Reading. Exit interviews typically go something like this: “What the heck was that all about?” Second viewings are almost required for Coen brother films.

Well now, I’ve got two more reasons to be excited. First off, the brothers’ new film A Serious Man, is getting great reviews. A retelling of the biblical story of Job, the film tackles such hum-drum themes as “faith, familial responsibility, delinquent behavior, dental phenomena, academia, mortality, and Judaism — and intersections thereof.” Who needs explosions and teen heartthrobs when you’ve got existential excogitation and “dental phenomena”?

And if that weren’t enough to satiate my Coen fix, I just ordered Falsani’s book, The Dude Abides, and am preparing to dig in.  So, needless to say, I’m on a serious Coen bender. I think I’ll celebrate with a viewing of Raising Arizona followed by the soundtrack from O Brother Where Art Thou? Woot! Woot! Or, as the Dude would say, in between hits, “Far out.”