“Pan-shot!”
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a series of six short western stories full of gothic horror, romance, and of course some violence. It’s of course directed by the Coen Brothers who directed such films like Fargo, The Big Lebowski, True Grit, Raising Arizona, No Country for Old Men, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? So how did this western anthology film rate compared to their other films? Well it’s definitely not as bad as The Ladykillers, but it’s not as good as True Grit.
If you know anything about the Coen Brothers films you’d come to expect: random endings, great dialogue, and the many strange characters in odd stories. As expected, that’s exactly what the Ballad of Buster Scruggs is. The dialogue is what you’d come to expect… phenomenal of course. Right off the bat the film makes you feel like you need to pay close attention, which is good because every performance is worth paying attention to. Great cast choices and fun cameos in every story. Although Clancy Brown as Curly Joe needed more screen time. The Kurgan is great in everything he is in and always needs more screen time.
It’s a gorgeous film about how life was out in the Wild West. Putting some of its characters in the most extreme situations. Of course, they use the typical clichés that westerns use, but it doesn’t stop the film from grabbing your attention. The first two stories are humorous and the others are rather depressing.
I’ll start with what I didn’t like about the film. With every anthology film there will always be some stories that fall flat while others shine. Some of the stories do kind of fall flat and dragged on longer than they should have. The overall film was a slow burn. Some scenes could have been cut.
The first story is of Buster Scruggs. Buster Scruggs represents the old singing cowboy westerns and the kid represents the Clint Eastwood style Spaghetti Westerns. The moral of this story is that there’s always someone that’s better than you. The songs that Buster Scruggs sings get stuck in your head weeks after you watch the film. That can either be a pro or a con. Near Algodones, the second story, involves James Franco as a bank robber who has gotten out of hangings due to unforeseen things out of his control. The moral of that story is that we must accept our fate. There will be many unpredictable twists and turns that we can’t control. That we might as well embrace death when it comes knocking on our door. The Meal Ticket (the most depressing story) I felt was an allegory for show business. Once you start losing your wow factor, Hollywood will throw you out for someone else. It also proves Liam Neeson excels at playing a dick. All Gold Canyon, the fourth story stars one of my favorite musicians Tom Waits as an old prospector in search of Mr. Pocket, a giant chunk of gold. The Gal Who Got Rattled, the fifth story is also quite depressing. It goes to show you that optimism is a sham and what counts in life is your survival instincts. The final story “The Mortal Remains” is about a stagecoach ride with some unusual characters. To me, this story could have been left out and felt very lackluster even though I do love me some Tyne Daly. The first story is probably my favorite then the Meal Ticket although it lacks that western feel.
I think the film gets better with multiple viewings. Especially with the Coen Bros unique style. The compilation of stories are well written with some damn fine dialogue. Cinematography is beautiful. Overall it was a good film, but a decent Coen Brothers film.
4.1 out of 5
No comments:
Post a Comment