The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, two segments based on stories by Jack London and Stewart Edward White respectively - 10 out of 10

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, two segments based on stories by Jack London and Stewart Edward White respectively

10 out of 10

This is one of the best films of 2018, deserving of a few Academy Awards, Golden Globes and other prestigious awards – the most relevant of all, the Cannes Festival Palme d’Or included.

It is original in that it does not present just one narrative – indeed, when the first segment, the Ballad, ends, the viewer is almost shocked, if amused by the sudden departure of the leading character, a pistolero named Scruggs, who shoots opponents with otherworldly speed and accuracy, even when he does not have a gun in his hand, only to be in his turn eliminated with such an ease that the scene becomes jocular and morbid…some spoiler alerts may follow…

Tim Blake Nelson – who has already been excellent in another Coen Brothers masterpiece, O Brother, Where Art Thou? – plays with masterful ease the preposterous Buster Scruggs, who is both amused, joyful and extremely deadly with his pistol, killing an opponent in the most bizarre circumstances -when holding a mirror, looking in it for his target and calculating the mirror effect, what impact his keeping it upside down has on the trajectory of the only bullet left has.

Scruggs enters a saloon, where the rule says that all weapons, pistols and shotguns have to be left at the entrance for storage, to avoid gun fights within, is considering joining a poker game, but decides to skip it when he sees the poor hand that is left on the table by the previous player, only to be forced to continue, by a man who somehow still has his revolver with him and is about to put a decisive hole in the protagonist, who is so good that he steps on the table and makes his rival shoot himself.

This motion picture is the cinematic equivalent of a splendid collection of short stories, with one tale more interesting, sometimes outrageous, tragic, with darker humor than the other, like the segment that is second in line, Near Algodones, with the exceptional James Franco in the role of a failed bank robber, who enters this branch in the middle of nowhere and tries to get the money.

He threatens the teller with a gun, this one is bending to supposedly get the bills, but he has already installed there two shotguns, ready to fire at potential wrong doers, fires them, forcing the intruder to duck, while the employee disappears and the cowboy takes the bills and tries to escape, wondering where the gifted adversary might be, makes it to a water well nearby, where he comes under heavy fire and is eventually apprehended and due to a blow on the head wakes up with a rope around his head.

A group of men is waiting for him to wake up, inform him that there has been a fair trial and he would be hanged, therefore he might consider giving his horse to one of the cowboys present, and when the sentenced criminal refuses, a band of Native Americans attacks the party, killing with arrows, hatchets all of those present, with the exception of the protagonist who is waiting on his horse, when a chieftain approaches, laughs at him and departs.

It looks like an even worse fate, for having been saved in the last second – like the famous Russian genius. Fyodor Dostoyevsky – for instead of dying in a more or less short time, with less pain, he would now wait on top of his horse, who is slowly moving about to grasp the few grass roots available, until a more sudden movement would leave the antihero in the air, without support and therefore hanging by the neck until he is finally dead.

There is a twist and a macabre joke about this, to avoid spoiling it, let us just mention the line “is it your first time (when you are supposed to be hanged)” uttered to an old, whining man that is waiting for his execution.

The part entitled “Meal Ticket” is still humorous at moments, but it could well be the darkest of the entire collection - together with The Gal Who Got Rattled – with a very cruel Impresario – a sibylline Liam Neeson – an artist without hands and legs – portrayed with majesty and outstanding talent by Harry Melling – who gives performances in various small towns and villages.

Meal Ticket refers to the Artist, who has a one man show that includes impressive, remarkable acts, attended by small crowds where they are lucky, but with a public limited to only three –and even these seem to pay nothing for their entertainment – in places where there is no interest, or, like in this locality, a serious competition attracts the audience, who looks in awe at a hen that supposedly can count.

Impresario buys the hen, takes it on the wagon he shares with his Meal Ticket, the disabled, mesmerizing performer that is looking with despair at the feathered rival that is kept hanging in a small cage, up to the point where his companion stops near a ravine, where the monstrous man checks with a big rock the depth of the valley and the next scene explains why he did that…

All Gold Canyon is based on a story by Jack London and in it a prospector takes his mule near a river, where he tries and fails to find gold, up to the point where he appears to get lucky, with a rather remarkable finding in the big hole he has dug, only to see the shadow of a man that is standing above, with a pistol in his hand…

The Gal Who Got Rattled shares with Meal Ticket a very sinister streak, given the unexpected finale, the fate of Alice Longabaugh, a young woman who travels with her optimistic, but rather flawed, untrustworthy brother on one of the perilous, deadly wagon trails, where the sibling expires, the grieving woman has to settle some exaggerated debts towards the boy leading their equipage.

Billy Knapp, who leads and guides the wagons with the older Mr. Arthur, comes to the rescue, on the first instance in a rather cruel manner, offering to put down the President, a small, lovely dog that barks too much and has had the neighbors complaining, only to see him escape, return later and get the owner in trouble when the American Indians attack.

As the makers of The Big Lebowsky have used us, No Country for Old Men, Fargo, True Grit and so many other classics, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is an outstanding, mesmerizing collection of stories.