The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

US 133m, Colour
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen: Cast: Tyne Daly, James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a comedic American western in six parts that conceptually had a lot of potential. As a series of short unrelated stories, there are a few interesting moments and even fewer laughs – most of which are found in the film’s titular opening chapter about an awkwardly cheerful singing gunslinger who I would have preferred to see wander through all six chapters. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is pretty uneven, save for “All Gold Canyon” that has a surprising turn of events (Klaus Ming December 2018).