Ballad of Buster Scruggs movie review: The Coens’ best film?

Now that the holiday season is here, it’s the perfect time to boot up Netflix! What better way to make good use of your subscription than by checking out the newest film by the Coen Brothers, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs?

I doubt I will be adding anything new to the conversation about Joel and Ethan Coen remaining to be one of the most distinct, bold, and creative voices in all of modern cinema, but it really goes without saying. The Coen Brothers have been responsible for some of modern cinema’s darkest and most idiosyncratic films. From quirky comedies like Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski to compelling thrillers like No Country for Old Men and True Grit, the Coens’ versatility shines through in each new project with blistering energy and hilarious cruelty.

The Coens’ talent behind the camera is once again on display in their newest venture: an ambitious Western anthology film called The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

The brothers team up with mammoth streaming platform, Netflix, to release it for the general public to watch in the comfort of their own homes, marking a rapidly different release strategy than their previous films.

More from Movies

• The story of a French emperor: Here’s where Napoleon will stream after theaters
• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes honors its origins and far surpasses them
• Thanksgiving movie death toll: Why [SPOILER] is still alive
• No, Thanksgiving is not streaming yet (But here’s where it’ll land)
• Trolls Band Together soundtrack guide: Which songs play in the movie?

Some might say this is risky, given Netflix’s over-abundance of streamable content to choose from, but the Coens could very well benefit from this massive exposure to a larger audience. The question is whether or not audiences will take well to the Coens’ take on Western life. Their last film, Hail, Caesar!, wasn’t a big hit with audiences and at this point, the Coens may not feel the need to bend to audiences’ demands for more palatable content.

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the kind of film that is purely Coen, in form, writing, acting, and directing. What we see here is an unbridled vision not hampered by a mass consensus. But does it deliver on those fronts? How does the vision of the Coens come across in Buster Scruggs?

Western tall tales

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs begins rather appropriately with the burly, but clean vocals of a man gleefully strumming his guitar as he rides his horse through a mountain trail. It isn’t long before we are introduced to the source of the singing: a clean-cut man decked out in all-white, who soon introduces himself right to the camera as Buster Scruggs.

Scruggs, played by an enigmatic and riotous Tim Blake Nelson, explains his love for poker and shows a strong kinship with his horse, taking on the appearance on a charming and upright fellow. In reality, Scruggs is a dangerous and outright sadistic outlaw and the rest of the story explores Scruggs’ adventure through a small town completely unprepared for his arrival.

Don’t get too attached to this story though, as within the first 20 minutes of the film, we already arrive at the story’s conclusion and move on to the next one. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs tells a total of six different stories, each unique in their presentation and style, but all pertaining to some aspect of life in a Western. Some of the stories don’t even take place in a traditional Western setting like an open range or small town, but each connects to one another purely through thematic content.

Some may find this irritating and jarring, which would be understandable. Most of the stories’ short length make for a limited time to connect to brand new characters and conflict, but the Coens’ impeccable and witty writing breathes life into each of the segments. The film’s dark sense of humor is both scathing and hilarious, often poking fun at the cruelty of life while never making light of the serious situations that arise. Buster Scruggs is fashionably mean-spirited and optimistic at the same time, never losing sight of its heart.

An odyssey of cruelty

The segments in Buster Scruggs seem to act as painful, but humorous reminders of both life’s joys and evils, with the Coens expertly balancing the harsh realities of the story’s consequences with a tongue-in-cheek attitude that seems to embrace the cruelty of it all. That may not sound entirely enjoyable to everyone and in all fairness, some of the stories may downright ruin your day with their mean-spirited nature.

The ‘Meal Ticket’ section of Buster Scruggs is an example of this, as the Coens slow the film down to tell a mostly visual tale of a legless and armless man (Harry Potter‘s Harry Melling) being escorted around the country by his right-hand man/manager (a powerfully understated Liam Neeson) as the two begin to grow weary of their travels. The story reaches an inevitable, but nonetheless gut-wrenching conclusion that refuses to tread lightly. Make no mistake, this film can get dark when it needs to.

Despite all being different and similarly dark in their own way, the stories in Buster Scruggs all have a sense of playfulness, from the adventurous ‘All Gold Canyon’ to the darkly hilarious crime capers in ‘The Ballad of Buster Scruggs’ and ‘Near Algodones’. There is a form of death and misery present in every single story, but the film simultaneously condemns and celebrates the natural end of life with its quirky and downright comedic delivery of such heavy topics.

Even the film’s weaker stories, ‘The Gal Who Got Rattled’ and ‘The Mortal Remains’, play up the humanity and heart of the characters, making it easy to connect with them, however irritating they may be. Zoe Kazan’s reserved, but charming performance brings authenticity to the cheesy romantic aspects of ‘The Gal Who Got Rattled’, but without losing its grim underbelly.

The film stumbles slightly with this story’s prolonged length and disjointed pacing, but it is a small price to pay for the full experience of the film’s sad, surreal, and completely uplifting ending. I do really mean that, in both a literal and metaphorical sense.

The Coens are back

To conclude, the Coen Brothers are proving that without a doubt, they continue to be two of the best storytellers in the business today. Their keen understanding of emotional manipulation and character writing elevate a strange and seemingly doomed premise into one of the most unique oddballs of a film experience I’ve personally had all year. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the Coens in full form and I’m all for it.

The masterful storytelling mixed with the brothers’ meticulous-as-usual direction, Carter Burwell’s whimsical and emotional musical score, and some of the most beautiful cinematography of the year (‘All Gold Canyon’ alone is worth the Cinematography Oscar’) creates an odd, but powerful odyssey on the inevitability of death and the many ways one can pass on to the next life.

I’ll be real with you all: this DEFINITELY will not be for everyone. The Coens aren’t afraid to get weird with Buster Scruggs and the film’s wildly fluctuating tones may be too much to handle on a first watch, especially if you’re not big into the Coens. But since you’re already paying money (supposedly) for your Netflix subscription, it may do you well to try the film out for yourself and see what you think!

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is far from totally accessible, but the film’s sharp and absurd humor should be enough to draw everyone in, especially with the oddball atmosphere of the first segment.

Though the film will slow down to try to tell darker stories, let it be known that this is indeed a comedy at its heart. It is a comedy making light of the tragic nature of death, all with a big goofy smile and a willingness to break your heart.

Final Verdict: 9/10

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is available to stream now on Netflix! What did you think? Did you watch it or do you plan to? Did you like it or how does this film seem to you? Sound off in the comments below!