When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings Review
Near of the early on word most the Coen Brothers' new movie, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, has centered not on its content but its distribution. Produced by NetFlix, and originally rumored to be a limited series rather than a full-length feature, the movie is the first in a serial of releases past the streaming platform of films past high-profile directors.
Next upward is Alfonso Cuaron'south lavishly received Roma, with Martin Scorsese'south The Irishman due in early 2019. Each of these films will go a very limited theatrical release to secure award season eligibility but for the vast majority of viewers, it will be found but on their TV, or God forestall, their iPhone.
Is that the ideal manner to watch a major cinematic accomplishment past some of the art form's greatest talents? Of course non. But in a studio landscape that increasingly bankrolls reboots and superhero franchises at the expense of original man-focused stories, I applaud NetFlix for providing these films a home.
And had Buster Scruggs received a traditional theatrical release, with the typical parade of trailers and TV commercials, I don't think information technology would feel like such a glorious surprise.
Buster Scruggs is an album picture show telling six unrelated stories of the Erstwhile W, each set in a unique location and embracing a dissimilar aspect of the genre.
Despite early on reports that the project was planned equally a series of half dozen standalone Goggle box episodes, the Coens insist information technology was always intended every bit a picture show. That makes sense, every bit each segment builds on the terminal, with thematic throughlines coalescing into 1 thousand vision.
The title segment kicks things off with a salubrious dose of absurdity. Tim Blake Nelson, interestingly one of the few actors here who has been in another Coen Brothers film, plays Buster, a singing cowboy in the Gene Autry mold whose joyful demeanor masks a startling capacity for violence.
The second story, 'Near Algodones,' the film's shortest, stars a winning James Franco as a bank robber with a knack for jumping from frying pans into fires.
Liam Neeson and Harry Melling (best known every bit Dudley from the Harry Potter films) star in 'Meal Ticket,' the film's darkest affiliate. This tale of a traveling impresario and his limbless, poetry-reciting human activity is a blistering satire of the modern entertainment industry.
'All Gilded Canyon' is the tale of a prospector digging for "pocket gold" in a pristine meadow. Tom Waits stars in this 1-man evidence that has a lot to say almost perseverance and determination only also man'due south part in disturbing nature.
The longest segment, 'The Gal Who Got Rattled,' features Zoe Kazan as a immature woman traveling the Oregon Trail to enter into a marriage arranged by her weaselly blood brother. She forms a relationship with i of the trail guides, played charmingly by Bill Heck. The Coens aren't known for writing romances, which makes their deft touch here all the more impressive.
Finally, 'The Mortal Remains' closes things out with a foreboding stagecoach ride featuring three passengers with very unlike views on humanity, and 2 escorts whose role becomes increasingly metaphysical. In a flick in which every chapter deals with death, this segment depicts the final passage quite literally.
Each of these stories both reinforces and deconstructs a different aspect of the western mythology, but the Coen Brothers are up to more than just an exploration of genre. Taken as a whole, Buster Scruggs is a treatise on the randomness and inevitability of death, a subject that has fascinated the Coens for three decades.
Eighteen films into their peerless filmography, the brothers are at the peak of their game. The writing, editing, cinematography and sound design here are all top-notch. This might exist their darkest picture show, thematically, simply it'south i of the nigh beautiful to look at. The ensemble cast of known and unknown actors serves the cloth perfectly, teasing out the wit and pathos in every carefully constructed line.
After 2 viewings, I count The Carol of Buster Scruggs every bit 2018'southward best flick so far. I slot it at #8 amid all Coen Brothers movies, which might seem like faint praise until you consider the masterpieces ahead of information technology. There is so much to unpack hither, though, that I wouldn't be surprised to run across it climb higher over time.
Source: https://meetinmontauk.com/2018/11/24/song-of-the-day-3795-when-a-cowboy-trades-his-spurs-for-wings-willie-watson-and-tim-blake-nelson/
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