Film Review: "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" (2018).

"How the West Was Won (more or less)" and "Stories live forever. People don't." This is The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. This western comedy-drama anthology film written, directed, and produced by the Coen Brothers. Ranging from absurd to profound, these Western vignettes follow the adventures of outlaws and settlers on the American frontier.

The film was based on Western-themed short stories which were written by the Coens over a period of 20 to 25 years (accounts vary) that differ in mood and subject. In 2002, regular Coen Brother collaborator, Tim Blake Nelson, was given the script for the eponymous story, and was told that a second, Meal Ticket, was in outline form. But, in 2016, Nelson only heard that the project would commence production. In January 2017, Joel and Ethan Coen announced the film as a collaboration with Annapurna Television. In August, Netflix announced it would stream the work worldwide. All Gold Canyon and The Gal Who Got Rattled follow the stories of the same names by Jack London and Stewart Edward White. It is also based in part on contemporaneous accounts, including those of heated arguments over pets. While some reports claimed the work would be a six-part television series, the Coens intended the stories to be seen together, structured them that way in the script they submitted to Annapurna, and shot the script as written. Throughout 2017 until early 2018, Tim Blake Nelson, Liam Neeson, James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Kazan, Tyne Daly, Harry Melling, Bill Heck, Tom Waits Clancy Brown, and Stephen Root were cast. Th film marks the Coens' fist time shooting digitally with 27mm lens in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and took place throughout Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, and New Mexico. Due its eight-hundred visual effects and late magic hour shoots, the filmmakers saw the project as a good opportunity to experiment with the medium. But Joel Coen said the shoot was physically demanding: exterior shots with uncovered sets, and much travel over wide-ranging locations. From the outset, the Coens ruled out traditional film studio funding, seeing an industry shift in how smaller projects are financed. Joel Coen said that Netflix was investing in movies that are not based on Marvel Comics or other established action franchises. However, the filmmakers had mixed feelings regarding Netflix distribution as the film was given only a limited theatrical run before its streaming debut. The Coens credited home video with helping establish their own careers and admitted that they succumbed to the temptation to watch movie screeners at home rather than going out to a theater.

The film stars Blake Nelson, Neeson, Franco, Gleeson, Kazan, Daly, Melling, Heck, Waits, Brown, and Root. The film is a typical Coen Brothers roller-coaster ride thanks to the goofy fun-house spirited performances, full of clever humour.

Though not as good as other Coen brothers' classics such as Blood Simple (1984), Raising Arizona (1987), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), the delightfully loopy The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is still a lot of fun.

Simon says The Ballad of Buster Scruggs receives:

Also, see my review for Hail, Caesar!