Film Review: 'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs'

A love letter to all things Western, 'The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs' (now available on Netflix), is the Coen Brothers' first foray into the Western and anthology genre. Despite the directors' exemplary dark humor and stunning cinematography, 'Scruggs' is an uneven caravan of stories, highlighting the directors' best (and worst) habits.

With Netflix's hands-off approach to its filmmakers, The Coens were given free reigns to their most ambitious film yet. Undeniably entertaining, yet self-indulgent and hollow in retrospect, it's both an applause and a cautionary tale regarding 'creative freedom'. Upon further readings though, this feels like the Coens' self awareness on full display to their critiques: bleak humor in indulgent dialogue, fervent subtext in otherwise straightforward stories, and more ballads than you could fathom or stomach, coupled with some expertly balanced tone-shifts which don't necessarily result in the best outcomes.

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A quick review of all stories in this anthology, wrapped around by a book (it's not really a spoiler if it's uninteresting):

'The Ballad of Buster Scruggs': A Looney-Tunes Homage

A very weird consensus indeed.

Tim Blake Nelson as 'Buster Scruggs'

By far the film's most entertaining segment, the titular story is a 17-minute-Tim-Blake-Nelson showcase. Featuring everything you would expect from a Coens' western, from multiple shootouts and imaginative deaths, to playing ballad duets with horses and everyone sporting a mo-town Western drawl, the segment was further elevated by Nelson's Looney-Tunes hero (fourth-wall breaking included), Buster Scruggs, who revels in, per Mantis and Drax, 'taking asses and kicking names'.

Capped off by an off-kilter ending and another Southern ballad, 'Buster Scruggs' is the crown jewel in its own film, and I would happily want Nelson to be on the podium come Oscar night, because why not?

Overall: A

'Near Aldogones': True Grit For Dummies

Coming off the impossible height of 'Scruggs', 'Near Aldogones' sees James Franco embarking on his own adventure, one that is entertaining, but ultimately forgettable.

James Franco as 'The Hangman'

A bank robbery gone wrong was the best part of this middle-of-the-pack segment. James Franco is relishing his opportunity to work with the best brothers in town, and is a good choice for the directors' signature brand of dialogue.

Where this segment failed was its crawl to the end. Seemingly off balanced after its guns-ablaze start, 'Aldogones' was directionless, jumping from one place to another, flailing to its bleak ending, reasonable entertainment withstanding.

Overall: C+

'Meal Ticket': If Only Taken 2 and 3 Were This Deep

Straying from the film's first two action-based segments, 'Meal Ticket' is a quiet, deeply emotional story of melancholy and despair, and might have been the film's best segment were it not for 'Scruggs'.

Dudley Dursley everyone!

Surrounding an alcoholic impresario (Liam Neeson at his best in a longggggggg time) and a handicapped artist (played to perfection by a Harry Potter alumni, Harry Melling), the segment had subtlety in spades, and where it lacked in story, it compensated in nuanced performances and plenty of emotional heft.

With an ending so bleak, so utterly Coen-ish, 'Meal Ticket' will surely stick with you for a long time after the credits have rolled.

Overall: A

'All Gold Canyons': A Happy Ending?

The Coens are notorious for their subversion of expectations, exemplified by their anticlimaxes ('No Country For Old Men') or open-for-interpretation endings ('Inside Llewlyn Davis'). It's a theme, for their movies to represent life as it is: always moving forward, rather than ending definitively.

Tom Waits as 'Prospector'

So it was a welcomed surprise, when 'All Gold Canyons', itself an ode to one-man-adventures, posed a happy, and definitive, ending for its main character (deftly portrayed by the always-welcomed Tom Waits).

Waits' character, known as 'Prospector', is on a seemingly hopeless quest for gold. Rather than being portrayed as greedy or villainous (as per usual for The Coens), 'Prospector' is actually endearing and funny, no doubt propelled by Waits' all-in performance, making us root for him all the way to the end.

It won't stick with you for long, but Waits' likability, coupled with dazzling cinematography, courtesy of long-time collaborator Bruno Delbonnel, makes this an easy sit.

Overall: B

'The Gal Who Got Rattled': A Subversion Of Their Own Trope

As mentioned above regarding the Coens, their movies convert the message: "It's not about the destination; it's about the journey".

For this particular segment, it's definitely about the destination.

Zoe Kazan as 'Alice Longabaugh'

The climax of this story is explosive, entertaining and incredibly well-crafted altogether. It even consisted of an unexpected rug-pull, leaving lingering sorrow for the audience.

It's almost good enough to save the laborious 30-minute lead-up.

Not even Zoe Kazan's nuanced performance could have elevated what was essentially B material for the Coens. Indulgent dialogue, repetitive storytelling and a serious lack of entertainment undo the impact of its ending, and it would prove more frustrating than it is sad.

Overall: C, for the climax alone.

'The Mortal Remains': Closure Be Damned

This was where the film fell apart.

Jonjo O'Neill and Brendan Gleeson as 'Thigpen' and 'Clarence'

One might say the Coens were venturing into unknown territory, namely spiritual horror; one might say it's an experiment that didn't work; others would say that it poses some philosophical questions worth considering.

Whatever your consensus is, 'Remains' is fatally boring.

Dialogue heavy and self-indulgent to the point of collapse, it wastes interesting themes, eerie color palettes and perfectly-cast Brendan Gleeson, whose brand of humor should have proven a perfect fit for the directors. Brief as it is (a mercifully short 18 minutes), it is a weak ending for what was overall a perfectly fine Coens' film.

Overall: D+

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In the end, this is by no means a bad film: the bleak humor was present, there were strong efforts from a game cast, the cinematography was stunning and the Coens are on top form. It's just too bad that the stories aren't always up to par.

It was an interesting experiment for the talented pair, but one can't feel the sense that this would have worked better as an anthology TV series, rather than a contained, and admirably svelte, 133-minute film.

Overall: B+

I would still recommend you check this film out for its sheer ambition. You can probably skip the last segment.