I don’t know why I thought I wouldn’t love this. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is only the first of six short films featured in this anthology. Each short film stands on its own. Each has their strengths and weaknesses. And when watched consecutively, there is no particular cohesion that ties the stories together. But they still work so well when watched back to back. Or maybe the better way to say it is that there’s something to enjoy in each vignette, and you don’t want, or feel the need, to stop watching when one episode ends. I started watching this a little bit late, and expected to split up my viewing. But that’s not what happened. I just kept watching, late into the night.

The Gal Who Got Rattled serves as the climax of sorts, positioned as the second to last (where the climax for a traditional film would normally be). And it fits there. It’s the most fully realized of the short films, and I thought it was the strongest. But there’s so much to like in all of these stories. The first story, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, felt like True Grit mixed with The Big Lebowski. It was highly entertaining – I couldn’t help but smile through its entirety. I even enjoyed All Gold Canyon (despite its slowness), and The Mortal Remains (it reminded me of the first part of The Hateful Eight – which I was actually compelled to put on after watching this film). The weakest of these, Meal Ticket, probably could have been a little shorter. It was the only one I found myself wishing it would move along. But it does have a pretty good payoff at the end.

Anthologies are strange. Sometimes they work, sometimes not. I wouldn’t say that this is something we’ll see a whole lot of in the future. Usually anthology films feature different directors that all contribute to one project (such as Paris, Je T’aime). But this was kind of a perfect little project for the Coen Brothers. They had all these western stories written, over the course of the past couple decades. And rather than try and spread each individual story over the course of a movie, or even over an anthology mini-series, they filmed this as a visual story book. That was very smart of them. Everything they do seems smart, really, so I suppose that should be no surprise. Everything works here, even in the weakest of its stories. They’re able to get top tier talent, and the cinematography is splendid as always. They’re still at the top of their game with screenwriting – the verbal wit in episodes like Scruggs and Mortal Remains are just a joy to behold. The Coens have always operated with a balance of heartbreak and humor. Tragedy and comedy. And that was on full display here.

Again, I’m not sure what made me think I should be worried about this project. It’s the Coen Brothers. This was great, like almost everything they do.

Here’s my ranking of the 6 episodes:

1. The Gal Who Got Rattled
2. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
3. Near Algodones
4. All Gold Canyon
5. The Mortal Remains
6. Meal Ticket

 

4.5 out of 5 stars