Paul N

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a collection of self-contained Western Parables that frankly could not keep my interest. What these tales had in pituresque cinematography and deft writing, they lacked in heart or self consciousness. In a culture where nearly every new film is a spin-off or reboot or snippet of some massive extended cinematic universe, it's refreshing to see stories that stand independently. Buster Scruggs seems to only take this political viewpoint into consideration. It is a collection of stories that are entirely self contained, but attempt to tell narratives that talk about disability without input from the disabled, and treat Native Americans as a monolithic force of chaos and antagonism of the otherwise mostly white cast. In the current political climate, where these marginalised groups are finally making their voices heard on issues like Medicare for all and The Dakota Access Pipeline and #MMIW, Buster Scruggs is a tone deaf centering of White voices in a genre that is already historically white-washed.