I have a confession to make. I haven't seen The Big Lebowski in at least 5 years. This may come as a bit of a shock to some as it occupies a special place in the hearts of my circle of friends in Edmonton, but that is the precise reason why I haven't watched it. It just isn't the same unless you watch it with the guys, in costume (some of us), with a White Russian in your hand. It isn't the same if you don't have the guys laughing with you, if the quotes aren't up on the wall. Watching it by myself has just seemed like a sad and lonesome endeavour so I haven't. For me it is a reminder that I really miss hanging with those guys, I still miss Edmonton. I miss what Lebowski represents to me in memory.
As I was surfing around on Saturday night, looking to see if a movie was coming to town I saw something that made my heart leap. In amongst all the new movies listed on Cinemaclock there was that all too familiar title looking back at me. An art house theatre in Vancouver was screening The Big Lebowski, one night only, and thankfully I was free to go. I talked to a buddy at church about going, and we found another guy who has never seen it and a plan was hatched. The night turned out to be pretty awesome I must say.
I think part of it is that the three of us, at least in some ways, represented the trio of guys that Lebowski revolves around. Geoff is very much the Dude, laid back and mellow. Matt is very much (at least in our dynamic) Donnie, kind hearted and cool. And I am Walter. There I admit it. I would love to be the Dude but the fact is I am too high strung to be the Dude. I get bent out of shape about dumb things, I have been known to rant although not about Vietnam as I never fought in 'Nam. I may dabble in pacificism but it really isn't my thing. Even the drive to the movie felt right, as we talked and laughed at Matt sporting quite possibly the worst Australian accent in the history of the universe. We talked about the movie, wished there would be White Russians there, hoped this would be something awesome.
When we got to the venue, the venerable and awesome Vancity theatre, we were delighted to see that they were indeed selling Caucasians for a whopping 7$. Highway robbery but what can you do? It was then that we realized we couldn't take the drinks into the theatre. It was 7:25 and the movie started at 7:30 so we had drink them at a less leisurely pace than the Dude might have otherwise appreciated. However, it was in that five minutes that we realized this was a pretty special screening. Geoff first noticed Larry Campbell, the former mayor of Vancouver sitting at the table near us. It turns out he hand picked the movie to be screened which made him the coolest mayor ever in my book. And then I notice Jim Byrne sitting at the table next to us. He is a local music legend and a Canadian treasure and starred as a watcher in the Highlander TV series. Crazy. This was turning out to be kind of a big deal. I was going to get to see The Big Lebowski on the big screen for the first time since 1998 with some very cool friends and some other very cool people. We headed into the theatre.
There was an intro for the film. I hadn't realized this was meant to be an artsy fartsy presentation of it, but that is what it turned out to be. There was a very eclectic group of people there, most of the type of cinephile's that drive me crazy. You know, the ones who have all these elevated opinions about the greater meaning of a movie, or who heard a quote about the movie from some other famous director as though that validates the movie's street cred. The movie itself was spectacular as always. The print was showing some signs of age but to me that added to the nostalgia of the experience. Starving myself paid off as I was treated to some surprises that I had totally forgotten about like the dance recital and little lines and nuances. The new thing I noticed this time (at least I don't remember noticing before) is that Bunny is played by Tara Reid of American Pie fame which seemed like an odd casting choice given the caliber of the other talent in the film. It was absolute bliss to laugh at the movie with a crowd of people and as stuffy as they came across it was nice to clap for the movie at the end, something I have always appreciated in the movie going experience and yet a rare occurrence these days.
After there was a Q&A and thought sharing time, where most of my suspicions about the viewers were confirmed. The comments were all about the amount of love in the film, whether the stranger represented God and rather hilariously whether that meant Jesus Quintana was supposed to be Jesus. That was an actual serious comment. I wish I was kidding. The thing that shocked me the most was that it was the norm to say when you had first seen the film and how many times you had seen it and most were saying, "This is my first time" or "I saw part of it on TV once." In deciding to go to the movie I thought that there would surely be some more folks there who had such a fond affection for the Dude. It is considered a cult classic after all. And yet there I was, apparently the only guy who has seen it 20+ times, the only guy who had this sort of religious attachment to it. I own two quote t-shirts, I use the dialog in regular conversation, and I needed to say something. I began as others did, saying I have seen this movie 20ish times (to which there was an audible gasp) and talked about our viewings in Edmonton. I also added that in all of those viewings we never really asked why we loved it as much as we do. For us it is more of a visceral feeling that we just really enjoy it. "This will not stand man" was my actual thought. I guess I got a little defensive about this picking the film apart with the whys and the hows, further proof that I am way more Walter than Dude. I just loved the experience though, it was a blast to go with a couple buddies and see that movie again. To make a night of it and treat it like it was something special brought back so many memories and thoughts of friendships.
Obviously I am not into the whole brevity thing, but I wanted to share this because more than anything it made me realize how much I yet miss my friends in Edmonton, and how much I valued those times together.
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