Zoe Kazan excels as a young traveler in a wagon train heading to Oregon in the longest sequence – one in which she loses her brother to illness, then accepts a proposal of marriage from the train’s leader, played by Bill Heck. ![]() If we’re lucky, that changes with “Buster Scruggs.” And Waits is such a natural with the Coen’s material, it’s a wonder he’s never worked with them before. As with many of the characters here, Waits is wont to break into song at any moment. Tom Waits pulls a solo bit in the next story, as a prospector seemingly more intrigued by the process of panning for gold than the payoff itself. Neeson is a father figure to the Orator, although when he comes upon an opportunity to cash in with a mathematical genius rooster, all bets are off. Then comes the saddest of the narratives – Liam Neeson as a former carnival barker who travels from village to village with an armless and legless man (Harry Melling) known as “The Great Orator.” He dramatically recites works of Shakespeare, Biblical tales, and Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, as Neeson passes the hat collecting whatever coinage the locals are able and willing to spare. The Scruggs bit is followed by a less interesting saga starring James Franco as a bank robber who almost survives two hangings. And when death occurs (as it does frequently), we often see the open eyes of the deceased looking heavenward, as if to transport the soul to its final destination. The bloodshed is harsh and frequent, and the protagonists (save for Buster himself) are, if not all outlaws, those down on their luck – those trying to simply get by in a bleak and cruel world. “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is not all light entertainment. After provoking a group of outlaws at a saloon, he proceeds to kill them all, move on to a crowded burlesque house, eliminate the bad guy at the poker table, and then break into a song-and-dance routine that rivals the sailor scene in the Coen’s 2017 comedy “Hail, Caesar” in terms of creativity and sheer boldness.īut don’t let the opening anecdote fool you. In the most amusing tale, Nelson’s Buster Scruggs turns out to be an excellent shot, as well as happily arrogant. Not every story is funny but each is ironic, and often paradoxical. Not only does each story feature language and dialogue above that which might be expected of its characters, each story features an ironic twist, common to the Coen library of work. In fact, a hand turns the pages of a large book between each sequence, as though we’re reading these stories, rather than watching them on the big screen. They’ve done it again here, in an anthology film which treats us to six stories of the Old West. He’s strumming a guitar and singing “Cool Water,” when he stops to directly address the audience – explaining that he’s known as a “misanthrope, although he harbors no ill will toward his fellow man.” If this sounds like high-minded speech coming from a simple singing cowboy, keep in mind that “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” is a Coen Brothers film – and the Coen’s are known for elevating salt-of-the-earth characters to literary status, much as they did in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Tim Blake Nelson rides his horse through Colorado’s Monument Valley, clad in an absurd white outfit that would make Porter Waggoner proud.
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