Review of The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) by Merijn J — 20 Dec 2018

I have something of a love/hate relationship with the Coen Brothers. I acknowledge their incredible talent and influence, and I'm a big fan of The Big Lebowski, Fargo, Raising Arizona and a few others.

However, I deeply disliked Burn After Reading, which I found pointless and unfunny, and the highly acclaimed No Country For Old Men, which I found insufferably boring and emotionally hollow. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs, which has one of the most misleading movie titles in recent memory, falls with the latter films.

I didn't hate it as much as I did the others, and it does have its merits. The cinematography and camerawork are magnificent, presenting an astonishingly beautiful view of the old west, with huge barren deserts and lush mountains surrounded by heavy forests.

Unfortunately, this is an anthology movie, with nothing connecting the pieces together. That would be fine, if I enjoyed the segments in isolation, but I didn't. The first 15 minutes feature the titular Mr.

Scruggs, and it's the best portion of the film. But it ends with the hero, the most interesting character the film has, dying and never appearing again. Then we get several more segments of varying length but all of inferior quality.

Some feel like they could have made an interesting feature length film on their own, but get only 20-30 minutes. For me, the Coen Brothers, much like Quentin Tarantino, have reached the stage where their films will receive praise simply because of who they are, and fanboys will defend them no matter what.

If we'd spent the entire movie with Scruggs, played by the always loveable Tim Blake Nelson, it would have been great. But producing a fragmented film where the pieces are barely enjoyable on their own is a very weird thing to do, and unlike in many of their projects, the weirdness here does not pay off.