Thereby revealing the Coens’s real intent of Buster Scruggs, which is an examination of the stories we tell ourselves in order to make it through the day and the truths we tell ourselves in order to sleep soundly at night. These three stories offer plenty of chuckles, but also enable the Coens to investigate an aspect of the human condition rarely explored. The Coens lean into the tropes and expectations of American audiences raised on TV shows like Gunsmoke, The Riflemen, and The Virginian in creating characters like the sweet yet vicious Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson), the afflicted Cowboy (James Franco), or the virtuous Alice Longabaugh (Zoe Kazan). Initially, it appears because the stories all take place during the Westward expansion, which saw cowboys, lawmen, prospectors, colonists, and members of the various Native American nations in assorted forms of conflict. Photo courtesy of Netflix.ĭespite the individualistic nature of each short film, there still remains a cohesiveness to the entire anthology. Tom Waits as Prospector in THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS. Released in partnership between Netflix and Annapurna Pictures, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an unlikely cinematic event which works both on the big screen and small, which is a great thing since audiences will have their pick of which they prefer for a brief time in November. It’s whimsical, fantastical, hilarious, melancholic, and often brutally violent as it presents six stories connected only through their themes which explore humanity amid the backdrop of the frontier American West. It’s as if someone might want to introduce the Coens’ work to someone who’d never seen a single one of their films before – Hail, Caesar!, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy – but couldn’t decide which one to go with, so they packed everything into one film. Marking their 18 th feature, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs feels like the epitome of the Coen Brothers. It’s the details which keep “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” on key.īy Douglas Davidson on Novem Home › Reviews › In Theaters › It’s the details which keep “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” on key.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |