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).
I was kind of on the fence about this one, based on reviews and word of mouth. Sounds like I’ll wait for DVD.
By the way, will you see (and review) The Other Side of the Wind? Worth seeing, if you can trust the opinion of somebody who’s been waiting to see it since around 1975.
I’d like to hear about it from someone less Welles-obsessed than me. 🙂
Without giving too much away, I really enjoyed the first chapter, and was let down be each successive story. Each part has merit, and while I have nothing against the anthology format – I expected more from the Coens.
I have not seen The Other Side of the Wind yet, but am looking forward to it – and I will definitely be getting back to you on it 🙂
Watched The Other Side of the Wind over the weekend – review coming soon 🙂