The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018) ***1/2
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018) is an anthology film by Joel and Ethan Coen that presents six unrelated Western stories that share a common theme: death. Each story is very different from the last and yet the sense of loss seems to grow as each one unfolds. Tonally, they are all unique as well, and yet all distinctly Coeny.
In the most amusing story of the bunch, the opening segment that shares the title of the film, Tim Blake Nelson is a cocky crooning cowboy with inventive ways of killing his rivals. The violence is over the top and TBN is hilarious. The second story starring James Franco and Stephen Root is another funny one but with a dark turn at the end. Segment three is the most somber but also my least favorite—Liam Neeson and Harry Melling are both quite good, but the story itself feels the least developed and seems to drag on the most out of the six.
Part four is basically a one man show with Tom Waits at its center, as a gold prospector. It's neither laugh-out-loud funny nor touchingly sad like some of the other stories, but it's obviously great because Tom Waits in a Coen Bros film is exactly as awesome as you think it would be. In the fifth story (the one seemingly most devoid of emotions), a woman making her way west on a wagon train to Oregon loses her brother and her dog but might find love. Finally, in the closing tale, five people share a mysterious and moodily-lit coach ride to an unknown destination. This one is the most dialogue-heavy of the bunch and the most theatrical, with a satisfying conclusion—both to the story and the movie.
While, after my initial viewing, Scruggs ranks low on my Coen filmography, that's only because they've made so many classics. I enjoyed the film a great deal—it's 2+ hour run time flew by, for the most part. My biggest gripe would be wanting more of some of the stories, in particular the first and second ones, and less of others (or at least to see them fleshed out better).
Highlights: Carter Burwell's score, which at times reminded me of his work on Fargo (1996), while simultaneously harkening back to classic Westerns and even Italian Westerns. The cinematography and production design—always excellent in Coen Bros films and no exception here, whether they are going for a naturalistic look, as in the Waits segment, or intentional artifice, as in the last segment. I didn't even mind the CG in this film because it was used sparingly and/or stylistically, rather than realistically.
Nitpicks: I was hoping for a more humorous or interesting take on Native Americans, rather than the stereotypical portrayal we're given and though it's a convention of the genre, I don't like seeing horse falls in modern films.
You can find my Coen Bros Feature Films Ranked list here.
In the most amusing story of the bunch, the opening segment that shares the title of the film, Tim Blake Nelson is a cocky crooning cowboy with inventive ways of killing his rivals. The violence is over the top and TBN is hilarious. The second story starring James Franco and Stephen Root is another funny one but with a dark turn at the end. Segment three is the most somber but also my least favorite—Liam Neeson and Harry Melling are both quite good, but the story itself feels the least developed and seems to drag on the most out of the six.
Part four is basically a one man show with Tom Waits at its center, as a gold prospector. It's neither laugh-out-loud funny nor touchingly sad like some of the other stories, but it's obviously great because Tom Waits in a Coen Bros film is exactly as awesome as you think it would be. In the fifth story (the one seemingly most devoid of emotions), a woman making her way west on a wagon train to Oregon loses her brother and her dog but might find love. Finally, in the closing tale, five people share a mysterious and moodily-lit coach ride to an unknown destination. This one is the most dialogue-heavy of the bunch and the most theatrical, with a satisfying conclusion—both to the story and the movie.
While, after my initial viewing, Scruggs ranks low on my Coen filmography, that's only because they've made so many classics. I enjoyed the film a great deal—it's 2+ hour run time flew by, for the most part. My biggest gripe would be wanting more of some of the stories, in particular the first and second ones, and less of others (or at least to see them fleshed out better).
Highlights: Carter Burwell's score, which at times reminded me of his work on Fargo (1996), while simultaneously harkening back to classic Westerns and even Italian Westerns. The cinematography and production design—always excellent in Coen Bros films and no exception here, whether they are going for a naturalistic look, as in the Waits segment, or intentional artifice, as in the last segment. I didn't even mind the CG in this film because it was used sparingly and/or stylistically, rather than realistically.
Nitpicks: I was hoping for a more humorous or interesting take on Native Americans, rather than the stereotypical portrayal we're given and though it's a convention of the genre, I don't like seeing horse falls in modern films.
You can find my Coen Bros Feature Films Ranked list here.
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