{"id":6021,"date":"2019-01-29T09:19:54","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T14:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=6021"},"modified":"2019-01-29T09:19:54","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T14:19:54","slug":"the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-a-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/29\/the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs-a-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs \u2013 A Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Coen Brothers are filmmakers who have a long established track record but are so idiosyncratic that it is unwise to assume anything about their new works without confirmation.\u00a0 They are extremely inventive and original and also have an extremely dark sense of humor.\u00a0 I was a big fan of their work until I saw \u201cNo Country for Old Men.\u201d\u00a0 Although I consider that movie a very good film the nihilistic story line coinciding with the state of affairs in the world in 2007 created a visceral reaction in me such that I avoided all of their subsequent films.\u00a0 This continued until they produced True Grit.\u00a0 At that point, because of the subject matter, curiosity got the better of me and I watched it. Well it was a very enjoyable film and for that reason I decided to give this other western film from the Coen Brothers a chance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Last night I watched the Ballad of Buster Scruggs and true to form it was completely unpredictable.\u00a0 Or rather, in a predictably Coen Brothers manner it was extremely inventive and original and also had an extremely dark sense of humor.\u00a0 The movie is made of a series of six vignettes that share an Old West theme.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The Ballad of Buster Scruggs&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Near Algodones&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;Meal Ticket&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;All Gold Canyon&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The Gal Who Got Rattled&#8221;<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8220;The Mortal Remains&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because they&#8217;re all short stories I won&#8217;t spoil any of them by narrating them.\u00a0 None of the stories are related and the only recurring theme is the cruel irony that fate weaves into every story.\u00a0 Mixed in with this bleak picture are varying portions of humor, absurdity, cruelty, sadness, warmth and even affection.\u00a0 But the overarching impression is bitter humor.\u00a0 Several of the character sketches are intricate and appealing.\u00a0 Others are caricatures. But each of them is appropriate to the story in which it occurs.\u00a0 In one story having to do with a gold prospector, \u201cAll Gold Canyon,\u201d the cinematography is extremely fine and the landscapes striking.\u00a0 In one story, \u201cMeal Ticket,\u201d there are grotesque aspects that are a bit off-putting so those who don\u2019t care for such things should be forewarned.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe because 2019 isn\u2019t as depressing as 2007 I don\u2019t find myself repelled by this movie as I was with their earlier one. Maybe it\u2019s the historical separation that allows me emotional immunity from the dark content.\u00a0 I will recommend this movie for those who have a strong bent for darker content.\u00a0 Don\u2019t look for any affirmation of life in this film. A sardonic leer is what it seems to offer in my estimation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Coen Brothers are filmmakers who have a long established track record but are so idiosyncratic that it is unwise to assume anything about their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239,237],"tags":[1587,43,38,1715,1633],"class_list":["post-6021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","category-reviews","tag-coen-brothers","tag-movie-review","tag-review","tag-the-ballad-of-buster-scruggs","tag-true-grit"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Ballad of Buster Scruggs \u2013 A Movie Review - 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