Movie Review The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers

Written by The Coen Brothers

Starring James Franco, Zoe Kazan, Liam Neeson, Tim Blake Nelson, Tom Waits, Harry Melling 

Release Date November 9th, 2018

Published November 6th, 2018 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs was intended to be western anthology series and not an anthology movie. But when the Coen Brothers and Netflix came to the decision not to move forward with it as a series, the idea came to make the vignettes that were already completed into one anthology movie ala The Twilight Zone or Creepshow from the 80’s movies that weren’t one story but multiple stories with different casts but similar themes. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs contains six stories with the theme of death and boredom in the old west running through each but with that twist of the Coen Brothers dark wit to set it apart from anything you might otherwise recognize. These incredible mini-movies within The Ballad of Buster Scruggs are better than most of the movies that have been released theatrically this year. I know I would rather pay to watch the Coen Brothers make a 24 minute movie than watch almost any teen-centric horror movie or YA romance released this year in theaters. 

The first of the six mini-movies is the title story, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Actor Tim Blake Nelson portrays Buster Scruggs, a songsmith and gunslinger on his way to a new town. Buster has a habit of singing his thoughts even if only his horse is listening. He’s also a wanted man as he is the fastest gun in the west and an accomplished killer. We get to see Buster’s handiwork when he stops for a drink and winds up killing an entire bar full of thugs while barely breaking a sweat. 

Next, Buster rolls into a new town and immediately announces himself in search of a card game. When Buster refuses to ante up on a hand that isn’t his, he winds up in a dangerous situation with a man named Surly Joe (Clancy Brown). I will leave you to find out how this confrontation goes down. It’s both easy and difficult to guess what is going to happen in this vignette. Buster is the title character but the build appears to be toward his demise. You’ll have to see it for yourself but I loved the clever way the story ended. 

The next vignette stars James Franco as an outlaw attempting to rob a bank settled somewhere in the midst of a desert. The bank teller is a wild-eyed nut, played by Coen Brothers regular, Stephen Root. When Franco’s outlaw attempts his robbery he is thwarted by this crazy codger and his DIY bulletproof outfit that must be seen to be believed. Franco has the funniest line in the movie, a dry, rye observation that is dark at its heart and brilliantly timed. Let’s just say that gallows humor is quite literal in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. 

The third vignette is a brilliantly told story about an old prospector played by the perfectly grizzled Tom Waits. The eclectic singer-songwriter channels his inner Gabby Hayes for an ingeniously crazy performance as a man who has perhaps spent a little too much time alone pursuing gold like Gollum searches for the ring of power. This is another poetic and unpredictable piece of storytelling that has a tremendously unexpected twist ending. Waits is a genius who fits perfectly into the world of the Coen Brothers. 

Up next is a strange and sad story about a pair of hucksters with a unique gimmick. Liam Neeson stars as a man who travels from town to town putting on a remarkably unique show. He’s happened upon a man with no arms and no legs, played by Harry Potter veteran, Harry Melling, whose orations of legendary political speeches, Shakespearean sonnets and poems and bible verses have earned him a minor amount of fame. Neeson carries the armless and legless man with him everywhere, cares for his every need and appears to have been doing so for some time as we join the story. This is slowest and perhaps the darkest of the vignettes but even as the least of the movie, it’s better than most theatrical features in 2018. 

My favorite vignette in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is The Gal Who Got Rattled. In this story, a brother and sister, played by Jefferson Mays and Zoe Kazan, are joining a wagon train to Oregon where the brother has promised that he has a job waiting and a friend he can marry his sister off to. Unfortunately, the brother dies of Cholera on the trip and the sister is left at the mercy of the wagon train. 

Bill Heck and Grainger Hines are driving the wagon train and as the sister looks for a way to survive, Heck takes a liking to her and the two begin a very chaste and very sweet courtship. Tragedy hangs in the air and yet, Kazan and Heck are so lovely together that we allow ourselves to be lulled into caring about them and forgetting for a moment that each of these vignettes have been about tragic death. 

I won’t spoil the ending, it’s too perfect for me to take the moment from you dear reader. Watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and let Kazan and Heck draw you in and win you over. You will be blown away by the incredible way in which this small story plays out and combines classic western elements with grand dramatic tragedy. There’s also a little dog named President Pierce who plays a surprising role in how this story plays out, even getting a dramatic and breathtaking moment. 

The final vignette may or may not be a trip into the afterlife. Tyne Daly, Brendan Gleeson, Saul Rubinek, Jonjo O’Neill and Chelcie Ross star in the closing story and they have an exceptional banter about life and people and the afterlife sort of sneaks up on you. Gleeson and O’Neill each sing in this segment and do so beautifully, delivering sad, Irish tunes that brilliantly fit the mournfulness that hovers throughout this segment. 

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the best thing Netflix has ever produced. The film is remarkable with the Coen Brothers at the absolute peak of their game combining their love of western tropes with remarkably authentic characters that not only reflect classic Hollywood westerns of the 30’s and 40’s but with the blood, guts and gloom of the 60’s Italian westerns. The film is darkly funny but also incredibly easy to watch and enjoy. Stream The Ballad of Buster Scruggs immediately and if you don’t have Netflix, get it so you can see this movie. 

Movie Review: True Grit

True Grit (2010) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers

Written by The Coen Brothers 

Starring Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld

Release Date December 22nd, 2010 

Published December 18th, 2010 

A strange thing has happened near the end of 2010. Some of the most daring and different directors are being tamed by the Hollywood system. Whether it's a moderation toward the notion crafted by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon years ago; 'One for them, one for me,' or merely an acceptance of the terms that Hollywood dictates to all filmmakers in these tough economic times, directors like David O. Russell (The Fighter) and John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole) have crafted their most conventional and studio friendly films in their esoteric careers.

The same could be said of the Coen Brothers whose latest film is a straight as an arrow adaptation of the Charles Portis novel “True Grit.” Though artful and entertaining, “True Grit” is easily the most straight-forward, audience friendly film in the otherwise odd and fascinating careers of Joel and Ethan Coen. There is nothing wrong with convention, especially when it is as moving and amusing as “True Grit.”

John Wayne won his only Oscar for Best Actor for his take on the role of Rooster Cogburn in 1969. 41 years later Jeff Bridges brings new energy and life to the role of the reprobate US Marshall Rooster Cogburn. Hired by 14 year old Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) to track down the villain Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin) who killed her father, Cogburn never ceases being a debauched yet heroic man with strong wit and as Mattie recalls in voiceover, True Grit.

Joining Marshall Cogburn and Mattie on the trail of Chaney is Texas Ranger Lebeouf (Matt Damon). Having been on the trail of Chaney longer than Mattie, he intends to return Chaney to Texas for a reward a move that runs counter to Mattie's intent to have Chaney hanged in Arkansas. Lebeouf is also intent on convincing Mattie to return home something she refuses to her detriment as danger lurks around every turn of the bend.

True Grit is not the movie many may think it is. From the dark and foreboding trailer with its ominous Johnny Cash tune, "God's Gonna Cut You Down," that has been playing for the past six months, one would miss the fact that “True Grit” is witty and entertaining as it is violent. The PG-13 rating is far less misleading than the trailer, indeed “True Grit” is as safe and conventional as the John Wayne original.

Again, I know this reads like harsh criticism but it's more of an observation; it's surprising to see director's like the Coens make a movie as standard and practiced “True Grit.” The film has the skill of the typical Coen brand, the fabulous cinematography of Roger Deakins as well as the music of Carter Burwell, two regular Coen's contributors, but it does lack the Coen Brothers brand of quirk that has highlighted their best work from the beginning. 

Just as surprising however is how effective this standard approach is. Jeff Bridges delivers a Rooster Cogburn every bit as iconic as John Wayne's while young Hailee Steinfeld steals the film with her steely, thoughtful and sensitive performance. Matt Damon is highly effective in the role essayed by singer Glen Campbell. I could see Oscar nominations for each as well as for the directors, cinematographer and, if it hadn't been ruled ineligible, Carter Burwell's exceptional score. 

”True Grit” may be shockingly conventional as a film by the Coen Brothers but it is still a highly entertaining and in the end moving film populated by excellent performances. In a career that has spanned nearly the length of time since the original “True Grit,” Jeff Bridges has evolved from handsome charmer to leading man and now to elder statesman and perennial Oscar contender. “True Grit” may give Bridges back to back Oscars following last year's “Crazy Heart” as a deserving Best Actor winner. 

14 year old Hailee Steinfeld was found in a nationwide search, a remarkable find. Steinfeld stands toe to toe with Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon and more than holds her own even as she chews over ancient dialogue in a rhythm that even long time trained actors would struggle with. Steinfeld's performance alone would be enough to recommend “True Grit” but with Bridges, Damon and highly effective direction of the Coen Brothers, True Grit is more than merely recommended, it is a must see film.

Movie Review: A Serious Man

A Serious Man (2009) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers 

Written by The Coen Brothers 

Starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind, Fred Melamed

Release Date November 6th, 2009 

Published November 4th, 2009 

Are the Coen Brothers making movies or conducting symphonies of word and image? On the basic level, of course they are movies. However, to the observant filmgoer, one truly engaged in the work of the Coen's, the symphony unfolds before them in remarkable movements that occur and recur over and over all the while deepening and expanding. It is a wonder to behold and in their latest masterpiece, “A Serious Man,” it is oddly, wonderfully exhilarating.

Ostensibly, we are watching a story about a put upon sad sack professor named Larry Gopnick. Poor Larry is stuck in a loveless marriage, could be on the verge of losing his job, has a pair of vile teen children, a lay about his brother and a pair of neighbors each offering their own trouble.

From a linear perspective we watch as Larry seeks the advice of local religious leaders, five different Rabbis from his local synagogue. Four of the Rabbis offer quizzical expressions of support, the 5th refuses to see Larry for reasons that never become clear. Again, that is from a linear perspective. Taken from a more abstract perspective each scene in “A Serious Man” offers dialogue that rises and falls, repeats and remits, furthers the story but doesn't. Moving the story along isn't so much the purpose as presenting dialogue and image that will eventually coalesce to an outlandish but highly effective crescendo.

Though the soundtrack bubbles with 70's rock standards from Hendrix to Santana to a special focus on Jefferson Airplane, the true musical expression of “A Serious Man” is as a symphony, a 104 minute epic symphony rising and falling, quiet then suddenly uproarious. It's a stunningly complex rhythm that few other filmmakers could match or even attempt.

The rhythm of a Coen Brothers movie requires an actor who can without question give himself over to the Coen style. Broadway veteran Michael Stuhlbarg does just that finding the perfect pitch for Larry Gopnick. Never over-playing Larry’s sadness while nailing his general apoplexy, Stuhlbarg captures the complexity of the Coen’s script while making Larry a simple, Jewish everyman whose life is suddenly one bad turn after another.

Much has been made of the Jewish aspect of “A Serious Man.” I cannot speak to the authenticity of how the faith is portrayed. I can tell you that Larry is a faithful man who even in his darkest moments, even as Rabbis repeatedly offer him little to know comfort from his problems, never turns against his faith. Judaism like everything else in “A Serious Man” is one of many repeated verses. It rises and falls on the Coen’s masterful melody.

For those who are not fans of the Coen Brothers, those who haven’t pored over the catalogue as I have and seen each film on multiple occasions, you may need to see “A Simple Man” more than once to get what I am talking about here. Fans of the Coens however, will absolutely flip for this coalescence of the Coen’s style into its most pure form.

“A Serious Man” is the synthesis of a style the Coen’s have cultivated since “Raising Arizona.” It’s a style they nearly perfected in “The Big Lebowski.” Listen to the dialogue, the ways in which it repeats throughout the film is intentional and each line is part of a bigger whole that won’t come clear right away. It’s not the lines themselves, taken individually they may be quite ordinary lines, but as they are reprised they blend into a whole that is very much like music.

Oh what wonderful music it is. “A Serious Man” is a symphony that works on multiple levels, a hypnotic rhythm, elegant reprises, humorous rises, dramatic falls, all the way to a biblical crescendo that, abrupt as it is, is really the only way it could end. “A Serious Man” is the best film of 2009.

Movie Review No Country for Old Men

No Country for Old Men (2007) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers

Written by The Coen Brothers, Cormac McCarthy

Starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Woody Harrelson

Release Date November 9th, 2007

Published November 8th, 2007

The Big Lebowski is my favorite movie of all time. I have seen it dozens of times, traded lines with friends and strangers and marveled at the number of nuances I find in it everytime I watch it. Lebowski was the product of the fertile minds of the Coen Brothers who used the frame of classic noir detective stories to twist dialogue and convention into the highest form of comedy.

The Coen's new film, No Country For Old Men, could not be more different than The Big Lebowski. Faithfully adapting the dark, violent work of Cormac McCarthy, the Coen's depart with almost all of their past and work to bring McCarthy's vision to the screen. Everything down to the music, usually provided by Coen's guy Carter Burwell is jettisoned in order to bring McCarthy's earthy, Texas prose to the screen.

It sounds risky but it works. No Country For Old Men is arguably the best film of 2007.

A drug deal gone bad leads an average man, Llewellyn Wells (Josh Brolin)  to a stunning discovery, a dead man carrying a satchel holding over 2 and a half million dollars. While dollar signs flash in Lewellyn's mind, the man who's money has gone missing has already dispatched a man to recover it. That man is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) , a psychotic, unrelenting killer who will not stop until the job is finished, no matter how many people he has to kill.

Observing things from a few steps behind is county sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones). The drug deal happened in his jurisdiction and Wells being one of his citizens makes this a case he is required to follow. As the bodies pile up and Chigurh comes closer to Wells, Bell becomes more and more disturbed by the decline of basic humanity in his corner of the world.

Directed and adapted by the Coen Brothers, from the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy, No Country For Old Men is a meditative, hypnotic film experience. So sucked in by this unfolding drama and these extraordinary characters, this is the kind of film that haunts you on your way out of the theater. Try describing the feelings afterward and a tingle in your spine will no doubt accompany your recollection.

No Country For Old Men is a very unique adventure for the Coen Brothers. Known for dialogue that twists and turns and bobs and weaves like non-sequitur poetry, the Coen's surrender much of their own writing to adapting, almost word for word, the straight forward, manly dialogue of Cormac McCarthy. Readers of No Country For Old Men will recognize whole passages of dialogue from the book in the movie.

The Coen changes to McCarthy's work are minimal. They have removed Ed Tom's narration, dropping some of the old sheriff's rambling observations about the rotting of humanity into the dialogue of the film. They've added a few scenes to flesh out areas of Ed Tom's narration but otherwise whole scenes are translated directly from McCarthy's text.

The Coen Brothers' work has always been open to philosophical observation. No Country For Old Men may be their most open to interpretation work yet. McCarthy's book is open to much speculation about its meaning  but it breaks down to a rather elementary discussion of McCarthy's feelings on the breakdown of society.

The Coen's are more philosophical. Yes, that discussion about where the world is heading is there but there is something more in the visual subtext of No Country For Old Men that is open to a wide amount of explanation. Take an especially close look at Anton Chigurh. Where McCarthy never bothered giving a physical description of Chigurh, the Coen's were quite specific with what they wanted.

Casting Javier Bardem, a Spaniard with a swarthy almost Mediterranean look, they left open too much speculation just who Chigurh might work for. Then there is the hair, a ludicrous late 70's throwback that I feel looks somewhat reminiscent of the top of the grim reapers robe. Wielding a shotgun instead of a sickle, Chigurh kills indiscriminately yet pauses on more than one occasion to offer his query a game of chance a la Bergman's interpretation of the reaper in The Seventh Seal.

No chess game but a more disturbing and fateful coin flip, the Coen's version of the character of Death is an equally terrifying character. As played by Javier Bardem, Chigurh is an unceasingly calm and terrifying figure. The performance is so brilliantly haunting that Chigurh comes home with you after the film in ways only classic horror film villains have in the past.

No Country For Old Men is, arguably, the best film of 2007. One of the finest works in the long, illustrious career of the Coen Brothers and easily their most unique. It's strange to see the Coen's interpret someone else's work. What's more extraordinary is how well they adapt someone else's work. The Coen's transfer Cormac McCarthy directly to the screen in ways that few writers could ever imagine.

Slavishly faithful to McCarthy's words, the Coen's must have writers like Stephen King falling all over themselves to get interpreted. It's a rare and exceptional thing for filmmakers to show a writer so much respect. That is just one of many extraordinary things about No Country For Old Men.

Movie Review Intolerable Cruelty

Intolerable Cruelty (2003) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers 

Written by Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, The Coen Brothers 

Starring George Clooney, Catherine Zeta Jones, Geoffrey Rush, Billy Bob Thornton, Cedric the Entertainer

Release date October 10th, 2003 

Published October 10th, 2003 

There are two unique qualities that mark Joel and Ethan Coen when working in comedy. The first is their writing, smart, funny, and slightly off-kilter surrealism tempered with sweet natured humor. The other is the look of their films, established with the help of cinematographer Roger Deakins. Consistent color patterns that have the same surreal quality of the stories they are background to. These two things are once again on display in Intolerable Cruelty, the Coen's skewed take on the modern romantic comedy.

George Clooney stars in Intolerable Cruelty as divorce lawyer extraordinaire Miles Massey, author of a prenuptial agreement so tough it's never been broken and is the subject of its own course at Harvard law. Miles' specialty is “impossible to win” divorce cases. Miles chooses cases specifically for the challenge of winning the ones no one expects anyone to win. Miles' latest case is that of Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann), a real estate millionaire who was caught dead-to-rights cheating on his wife Marilyn (Catherine Zeta Jones).

Marilyn, you see, hired a private investigator named Gus Petch (Cedric The Entertainer) to follow her husband and Gus now has videotape of Rex's infidelity. Obviously Rex is caught but with Miles as his lawyer, he somehow walks out of court on the good side of the settlement. In fact, Rex's now ex-wife got nothing. Nothing that is, except for the admiration of her husband’s lawyer.

Despite all of Miles' instincts about marriage and divorce, he is totally smitten with Marilyn and her shady search for gullible rich husbands. Even after she has married yet another rich dupe, a Texas oilman played by Billy Bob Thornton, Miles still can't help but fall for Marilyn. She, of course, has a few more surprises for Miles to come throughout this comedic story.

Intolerable Cruelty is a surprisingly conventional piece from the usually more off-kilter Coen Brothers. It is, in most respects, a romantic comedy and contains a number of the perfunctory touches of that genre. The coincidences and luck that are hallmarks of most romantic comedies also show up in Intolerable Cruelty, only slightly skewed by the Coen's snappy dialogue and bright colorful production design. The production design of the film is far better than most other films of the genre.

George Clooney and Catherine Zeta Jones spark some terrific chemistry but some of the film’s third reel twists undermine that chemistry with a little more detachment and cruelty than you want from a romantic comedy. Nevertheless this is still the Coen Brothers and the dialogue is smart and snappy and the two leads are more than equal to it. The good definitely outweighs the bad in Intolerable Cruelty. I'll take their version of the romantic comedy over any of the most recent releases in that genre.

Movie Review: Burn After Reading

Burn After Reading (2008) 

Directed by The Coen Brothers 

Written by The Coen Brothers 

Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, Richard Jenkins 

Release Date September 12th, 2008 

Published September 11th, 2008 

As a way of cleaning the fictional blood off their hands, Joel and Ethan Coen followed their Oscar nominated, blood-soaked masterpiece Fargo with the brilliant, offbeat comedy The Big Lebowski, a movie so wonderfully fun and gentle it could heal even the darkest mind. This same pattern plays out for the Coen's again with the back to back, triumph of opposites, No Country For Old Men and Burn After Reading. After going dark and broody, for an Oscar win, the Coen's did another 180 and deliver arguably their silliest, giddiest effort to date.

In Washington D.C a CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich), has just been fired. In a fit of pique he tells his wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) he wasn't fired he quit. Osbourne plans on writing his memoirs, though his wife wonders, to his face, who would want to read that? Naturally, the wife is cheating on him. She is cheating with someone sunnier and far less complicated, a doofus federal marshal named Harry (George Clooney) who likes to jog after sex.

On a different planet yet somehow the same movie are Linda (Frances McDormand) and Chad (Brad Pitt). Best friends and employees of the same cookie cutter franchise gym, Linda is desperate for plastic surgery that is beyond both her means and necessity and Chad is basically along for the ride, his good nature being all that bonds him to the story.

Banging these two universes together is the discovery of a computer disc at the gym that contains Osbourne's memoirs filled with CIA secrets that Linda and Chad believe will be worth money to Cox and if not Cox maybe the Russians. Watching everything in permanent apoplexy are the CIA brass played by David Rasche and J.K Simmons who manages to bring his dad from Juno and his Spider-Man newspaper boss together for another brilliant supporting turn.

The bonds of these characters deepen in ways that are entirely contrived but who cares when we are all having such a good time. Joel and Ethan Coen establish a tone of such wonderful goofball whimsy in Burn After Reading that one forgets to fact check the movie as it goes along to make sure everything makes sense.

I have a theory about the Coen Brothers and George Clooney. After three movies together in which Clooney has become more and more of a doofus, it's clear the Coen's enjoy taking one of the world's handsomest actors and making him a fool. Like the kids picked on in High School taking their psychic revenge on the most popular kid in school, the Coen's appear to revel in making Clooney the fool and he appears to be having a ball doing it. 

The Coens make similar magic with Brad Pitt, taking another of People Magazine's Sexiest Men Alive and turning him into a himbo doofus to wonderful comic effect. Brad Pitt is hilarious as an airhead who has no awareness of his own ludicrous attractiveness. There is a subtext to the way the Coen's use both Clooney and Pitt, cleverly twisting the cool, charismatic personas of both actors into something wild, strange and hilarious all at once. 

Burn After Reading is a good natured, if occasionally dark and violent, little comedy. The Coen's can't seem to escape a slight body count and yet they still manage to keep things on a ludicrously, deliriously bright and funny tone. Burn After Reading has some faulty bits of logic and a couple of plot holes and contrivances that would come to light under more scrutiny but who cares. The point of Burn After Reading is just being hilarious. 

The Coen Brothers do such a terrific job of distracting us with goofiness and good nature that we forget the plot, the motivations, even the surprising amount of violence. The film is R-rated for violence and for something that Clooney's character builds that will either make you gasp or laugh uncontrollably. Either way, that scene alone with a smiling Clooney and a curious McDormand is worth the price of admission.