The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Jun 14

A love letter to westerns, save none for the audience.

Presentation:

The cinematography is wonderful and captures the vast landscapes of western films. The Coen Brothers give us an offbeat comedy with their signature quirks. Told in 6 character arcs, the sets, stories and lighting are all quite diverse.

Story:

I'm not so sure why the Coen Brothers decided this film was necessary, or why they decided to tell it in 6 parts. I feel as westerns are becoming a bit saturated and they crushed it with No Country for Old Men, so why revisit this format? Given the episodic nature, the film bounces around in tone and mood, some episodes better than others leading to jarring consistency. This could have worked if the stories were somehow linked or had some resemblance of a progression, but did not ending up feeling disjointed and random. Some of the moments are really wonderful snapshots of westerns and some are really funny, i just wish there was some cohesion to make it feel less of a scrapbook.

Conclusion:

This was a pretty forgettable film. I really couldn't tell you what the film was about unless you showed me pictures but it would be ridiculous to give this 2 chilis as the film really is well made. It's not a bad film by any means but it's kind of a letdown given their previous masterpiece.

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