The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was released on November 9th, 2018. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It is an anthology film comprising six western vignettes. It was one of the best reviewed films of 2018 and received three Oscar nominations.
The first story were presented with is "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and features Tim Blake Nelson as the titular character, a singing cowboy and a wanted man. Buster gets in a variety of confrontations thanks his provocative demeanor but, thanks to his skills with a gun, he comes out with a smile every time. Scruggs is a cross between singing cowboys like Gene Autry (the song "Cool Water" was originally sung by the Sons of the Pioneers and is featured in the Roy Rogers films
Along the Navajo Trail) and some of the more playful figures from Spaghetti westerns like Terence Hill's Trinity. The Coen's are clearly using Buster to subvert the archetype of the western hero and Nelson does a good job playing this rather obnoxious character but the gag where thin pretty quickly and the ending is kinda dumb.
In "Near Algodones" a outlaw, played by James Franco attempts to rob the bank of Tucumcari (a reference, I suspect,
For a Few Dollars More, which also features the Mexican town) but his efforts fall short when the teller turns out to be more resourceful then he expected. Franco's character barely escapes hanging by a band of vigilantes only to be caught with stolen cattle and convicted once again. This segment feels very much in line with the Coen's other work, it's filled with black humor and quirky characters. It ultimately feels a little pointless but perhaps that is the point, to show how absurd and futile life can be at times.
"Meal Ticket" eschews the (comparatively) light-hearted tone of the first two stories to tell a really grim, piteous and ultimately disturbing tale about a young man with no arms or legs (played by Harry Melling) who makes a living as a traveling actor alongside an impresario (played by Liam Neeson). As the story progresses, the pair become less and less able to make a living from the young man's performance until, finally the impresario finds another source of income, leading to a rather shocking ending. Harry Melling puts in an outstanding performance as the limbless actor and Neeson is also great as the scrupulous impresario.
"All Gold Canyon" is the most uplifting story of the bunch, following a prospector played by Tom Waits in his search to find a vein of gold in an isolated valley. Waits carries this vignette single-handedly for most of the runtime and you become really invested in his search for the gold vein (that he dubs "Mr. Pocket") by the end. The mountains of Colarado make for a picturesque location for this story of man and nature. A simple but effective vignette.
"The Gal Who Got Rattled" is more of a character study then the previous shorts. It follows Zoe Kazan's Alice Longabaugh who is traveling to Oregon on a wagon train along with her brother Gilbert (Jefferson Mays). When Gilbert dies suddenly from cholera Alice is left to fend for herself. She meets and eventually falls in love with Billy Knapp (Bill Heck), one of the train's leaders, who offers to marry her. The ending is utterly tragic and somehow this didn't bother me despite feeling slightly contrived. Alice and Billy manage to be well written and fully fleshed out characters despite the short runtime thanks in no small part to Zoe Kazan and Bill Heck, who have excellent chemistry together. The rest of the cast do a fine job as well especially Grainger Hines as Billy Knap's crotchety partner, Mr. Arthur.
"The Mortal Remains" is more of a horror story then a western and follows five characters who are riding to Fort Morgan on a stagecoach: Thigpen, an eccentric Englishman played by Jonjo O'Neill; an Clarence an Irishman played by Brendan Gleeson; René, a Frenchman played by Saul Rubinek; an old Trapper played by Chelcie Ross; and Mrs. Betjeman an opinionated ministers wife played by Tyne Daly. It is implied that the three latter passengers are actually dead and on their way to the afterlife, though they don't seem to realize this, while Thigpen and Clarence are some sort of reapers or “Harvesters of Souls” as the Englishman puts it. The script imbues all the characters with really interesting and distinctive personalities and the cast all play off each other wonderfully.
The vignettes are routinely well directed. The Coens are master's of visual storytelling and know how to bring together strong scripts, unique performances and beautiful cinematography to strong effect. The cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel (who also worked with the Coens on
Inside Llewyn Davis) is quite good and, incidentally, the first time the pair have used digital film. The various segments were shot on location in Colorado, New Mexico, and Nebraska and the natural scenery is used to great effect. The score by frequent Coen Brothers collaborator Carter Burwell is great as well. Utilizing a variety of folk songs (as well as new material written for the film) the music fits the movie's western story collection theme really well.
The problem with most anthology films is that they often lack a unifying force tieing all the short stories together. This film does not avoid that pitfall. At first I thought there was a common theme of mortality running throughout the vignettes, as three first three all feature the protagonist dying but "All Gold Canyon" broke that trend. In addition to this "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and "The Mortal Remains" both feel tonally at odds with the rest of the shorts, which are generally much more grounded and down to earth.
"Buster Scruggs" is the only segment I didn't care for while "Mortal Remains" doesn't embrace it's concept soon enough to fully work. "Near Algodones"was the most innocuous out of the bunch and didn't leave too strong an impression either way. "Meal Ticket" and "All Gold Canyon" were both pretty great and contained the strongest performances of the film. "The Gal Who Got Rattled" was easily my favorite of the shorts and contained the most involving and well written story. At it's best it recalled Larry McMurtry's
Lonesome Dove which may be my favorite western novel ever. In general watching the film is like reading a collection of short stories, it's an enjoyable experience even if the whole is never quite transcends as the sum of it's parts.
Score: 7/10
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