The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
[Rated R] 2hr 13min
★★★★
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a western dark comedy anthology film featuring six different stories that all focus on different aspects of the western frontier during the 1800s.
This is an excellent film that begins with a ton of humor and gets much darker with each subsequent story. While the film never completely loses its funny moments as it goes on, the later stories become a lot more somber and poignant as they explore more serious aspects of the western frontier. The overall sequence that the individual stories follow brilliantly represents the general evolution of the western genre as time went on, from the first story that emulates the fun adventures of early westerns to the final story which signifies the death of the genre. As a whole, this anthology provides a fantastic variety of different elements from the entire lifespan of western films while still incorporating its own themes that primarily revolve around the harsh conditions of the time period. This effectively create a through-line that every story builds upon, making the sum of the stories much stronger than they already are on their own.
I recommend The Ballad of Buster Scruggs to anyone who enjoys westerns and other Coen Brothers films. This is another great entry in their impressive filmography and marks their last collaboration together before moving on to their own solo work. With so many different types of stories in this anthology, there’s a good change it will have something for everyone.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is currently available to stream on Netflix. Click here to watch the Official Trailer.
– Review by Will Hopper