Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Genre: Comedy/
Drama
Runtime: 133
minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Tim Blake
Nelson, Clancy Brown, Zoe Kazan, Tom Waits, James Franco, Stephen Root, Liam
Neeson, Harry Melling
Description: Six tales of
life and violence in the Old West.
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 25: A MOVIE WITH MULTIPLE STORYLINES
Review: A film by Joel and Ethan Coen is always something to look forward to.
That Netflix allowed the famous brothers to make a film and gave them a free hand
in it makes it even more interesting. The results is an anthology of six
stories, all set in the Old West and highlighting an aspect of life in the Wild
West.
“The Ballad of Buster
Scruggs” has a book as a window for the narratives. An unknown person opens the
book and we dive into the first story. It bears the title of the film and is
delightfully ridiculous. Tim Blake Nelson plays the smiley cowboy from the
title and comes across as somewhat simple. But he manages to win every fight he
gets into. That;s how simple the premise of the first story is.
The other five are more or
less the same, but there is enough cleverness in them and references to modern
times to keep engaging. Gradually, the tone of the film also changes and the
lightheartedness disappears. In ‘Meal Ticket’ Liam Neeson plays the callous
impresario of a man without arms and legs. The wretch recites poems, but sees
his audience shrinking. This was my favorite story. In ‘The Mortal Remains’ we
follow a group of people in a carriage. This is my least favorite of the stories
and a bit boring actually. Other stories stand out, like ‘Near Algodones’ where
James Franco plays a bank robber, or ‘All the Gold Canyon’ with a starring role
for musician Tom Waits as a prospector. The stories are not connected, so it’s
sometimes difficult to get into them properly.
It’s not one of the best
movies by the Coen Brothers and certainly not one of my favorites, but
definitely worth a watch.
Rating: 3/
5
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