The Dude and many iconic others abide at VIFF Centre’s 90s, Baby!, to August 31
Retro summer series continues with the cult hit The Big Lebowski, a rare big-screen look at the risk-taking Run Lola Run, and more
The Big Lebowski
The VIFF Centre presents 90s, Baby! to August 31
WE’RE MORE THAN halfway through the summer but the VIFF Centre’s seasonal 90s, Baby! celebration is gearing up with some of its best flicks from the Gen X heyday.
First and foremost, there are two chances to make like The Dude and pull out your oldest housecoat to attend The Big Lebowski—a Coen brothers classic that earned a modest US$17 million but has grown into a massive cult hit and an icon of slackerdom.
Chalk its popularity up to its riotously quotable lines (“Careful, man, there’s a beverage here!”), the insane character quirks (John Turturro’s polyester-purple jumpsuit and hairnet–sporting bowling champ, Julianne Moore’s harness-wearing avant-garde artist), or the clever nods to Chandler-esque film noir. Each superfan will have their own reasons to hit VIFF Centre’s screenings with the Big Lebowski masses on August 14 and 20: suffice it to say, The Dude abides.
Elsewhere, the brilliantly curated summer series offers a rare big-screen chance to catch Run Lola Run (August 16 and 18), Tom Tykwer’s hyperkinetic, multi-timeline thriller that gave its Carolina-reaper-red-haired star, Franke Potente, her 15 minutes of fame. The techno-driven, clock-ticking race to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks lives up to its breathless title in ways that make you long for an era when directors took real risks.
Elsewhere, don’t miss the opportunity to see Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (August 16), a profound, poetic answer to the war-movie genre, in a theatre; Werner Herzog’s apocalyptic documentary Lessons of Darkness (August 23 and 25), capturing the roaring oil fires of another conflict in the Middle East (one whose “lessons” clearly weren’t learned); and Mike Judge’s irreverent Office Space (August 22 and 31), one of the 1990s’ greatest comedies—with insights on cubicle hell, corporate pecking orders, and mass layoffs that still, sadly, resonate in a world of AI and economic duress.
There’s much more to catch before August runs out. Feel free to pick your own favourites, but remember, with another Dude-ism, "That's just, like, your opinion, man." 
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