Legendary actor Jeff Bridges may have won his Best Actor Oscar for the film Crazy Heart, but he’ll always be remembered first as Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski, the pothead bowler-cum-amateur detective in the Coen Brothers’ classic The Big Lebowski. Kahlua has produced a short film entitled The White Russian, in which Bridges tips his hat to his iconic character while sipping the titular cocktail, the Dude’s signature drink.
The White Russian also winks at other Coen classics. Bridges’ character regales a bartender with a quirky tale from his youth, in which he finds a suitcase in the desert, much like Josh Brolin’s character in the Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men. Two menacing Fargo-esque figures show up to complicate things. And the bizarre ending rivals Barton Fink.
None of this is to suggest that director Ivan Zacharias has created anything derivative—the story is strange and original, the cinematography and editing gorgeous—but it’s always great to be reminded that the Dude is still out there, takin’ ’er easy for all us sinners... even if it’s not really him.
