The Coen Brothers are back. This time, they’ve made a movie that’s an original Western anthology. The cast is huge and includes Liam Neeson, James Franco, Tyne Daily, Tom Waits and many others. It has the tone of a Coen Brothers movie, moreso than True Grit did. Each story is self-contained and doesn’t overlap into the others.
The first story is the most exciting and that’s the story where the title comes from. Because the stories are short, you’re not sure where they’re going to go or who is going to die. In a feature length story, you can usually tell. It becomes way more predictable that main characters will have to change. As always, the Coens take their time crafting a world. They don’t rush a single a frame and it’s pretty entertaining, while maybe not a satisfying as a traditional narrative.
The last story is probably the least satisfying because I think it’s meant to be more symbolic. Still, the entire movie is just entertaining. Every actor nails his or her role pretty flawless and the world that’s created has an extremely loose and random feel to it.
The Ballad is playing on Netflix and in local art house theaters. It’s worth seeing, especially if you’re a Coen Brothers fan or Western fan.
I give The Ballad of Buster Scruggs 7.5 out of 10 keggers, bros.
