Jason Michael Goron

I watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs not knowing what I was getting into, but being a huge Coen Brothers fan I knew it was going to be something unique. I wasn't disappointed. It's an anthology film with six stories highlighting the brutality and bleakness of the Old West, but done so with a poetry and dark humor that only the Coen Brothers could provide. I'd be lying if I said the film didn't drag on a tiny bit, it felt about 20 minutes too long but that's not really a criticism. There just seem to be more meaningless conversation than necessary, but then again it may have just went over my head. Technically speaking, the film is a masterpiece. Beautiful locations and cinematography, excellent performances (especially by Liam Neeson and Tom Waits) and of course, spectacular dialogue and sharp directing by the Coen brothers. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a weird, funny, violent, peculiar set of stories, all centered around dying, death or the threat of it. Heavy subject matter all sanitized with slapstick violence and almost cliche old west tropes. Well worth the 2 hours!