The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

As you probably know if you have been following me for a while, I'm not the biggest fan of westerns, which is why I decided to pass The Ballad of Buster Scruggs when it released. Yes, even though the Coen brothers made it. And the cast is stellar. It's been popping out in my Netflix homepage quite often lately so I decided to give it a shot.

It is a western anthology that features six stories taking place in the Old West: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs follows a cheerful and singing gunslinger (Tim Blake Nelson); Near Algodones follows a nameless cowboy (James Franco) who gets caught in a bank robbery; Meal Ticket follows an impresario (Liam Neeson) and his armless and legless young artist (Harry Melling) who travel from town to town to recite classics; All Gold Canyon follows an elderly prospector (Tom Waits) at a remote creek; The Gal Who Got Rattled follows the journey of a young woman (Zoe Kazan) on a westward-bound wagon train; The Mortal Remains follows the five passengers of a stagecoach.

These are six stories that have very little in common as they don't share the plot, characters nor have the same tone —while the first is purely comedic relief, the stories get more serious and darker as the film moves forward. And yet The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the most compelling, fun and thought-provoking anthology I've seen as each story has its unique take on death, which came in many forms in the Wild West, while dealing with human frailty, morality, vanity, overconfidence, and duplicity.

In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is filled with compelling characters. They don't have a lot of depth nor development as time does not allow that, but they immediately feel real, they are likeable and sympathetic, and interesting to follow around —I found myself invested in all of them.

The acting is also great. Everyone does a wonderful job, from James Franco to Liam Neeson to Zoe Kazan but there are a few standouts: Tim Blake Nelson is brilliant as the titular character, Buster Scruggs; Stephen Root is very mesmerizing as a bank teller in the second story; Tom Waits absolutely nails the role of a gold prospector.

Netflix

The screenplay is also filled with brilliant dialogue, especially in the final vignette as the five characters discuss different philosophical topics. In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has gorgeous, jaw-dropping cinematography that transports you to the setting of the film, the Old West.  The scenery is also on point and the costumes are great. The score is phenomenal, and the songs from the first story are very catchy and enjoyable.

Ultimately, this is a film that blends action, comedy, drama and romance incredibly well, that keeps you interested and engaged in spite of the stories being completely different from one another. What I would change something about it? Well, maybe as I've liked the characters to connect as they do in Tarantino's movies.