Movie Details
| Title: | The Ballad of Buster Scruggs | |
| Director: | Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | |
| Year: | 2018 | |
| Genre: | Western | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 12.18.18 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Hail, Caesar!
- The Ladykillers
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 12.18.18 | Netflix | A stellar anthology of all sorts of different tones and subgenres within the Western umbrella, all filtered through the Coens' sensibilities. I had to look up afterward if it was supposed to be a mini-series and they re-cut it into a single film and apparently that's not the case, but I couldn't help but wonder what it would've been like as one (perhaps it being released on Netflix where their algorithm apparently thinks all I want to do all day is watch tv shows and comedy specials), yet certain symmetries and thematic ties do exist between the disparate stories. I have to say, I loved this. I do kind of wish I could've taken each story in on its own and not felt a push to get through them all in one sitting, I'm having a hard time picking a favorite. Because they're so different in tone, they scratch different itches for me. The first one is like a send-up of the old Roy Rogers hollywood Western, the second has a phenomenal (and criminally short) performance by Stephen Root, the third one... yeah this one's not my favorite, but the fourth one is like a tour de force Tom Waits performance with absolutely beautiful photography. The fifth one is like a whole movie unto itself, and the sixth contains some of the most Coen-esque bestest dialogue I've heard in a long time. Particularly the speech by the dude from Major League as the trapper. Man, those Coens can write. But six is kind of a lot to sit through and anthology films have that fleetingness for me for whatever reason. I hope I can hold onto this one though... because there is a ton of good stuff here. |
