The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a film written, directed, and produced by the Coen brothers, best known for their work in Raising Arizona. The movie, first released in 2018, is an anthology of stories. It stars Tim Blake Nelson, Tyne Daly, James Franco, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Heck, Grainger Hines, Zoe Kazan, Harry Melling, Liam Neeson, Jonjo O’Neill, Chelcie Ross, Saul Rubinek, and Tom Waits. The film has six short stories, the common thread being that they all take place on the U.S.A. frontier.
Stories:
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Near Algodones”
“Meal Ticket”
“All Gold Canyon”
“The Gal Who Got Rattled”
“The Mortal Remains”
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a unique western movie. Every single one of the stories illustrates both life and the values back then. Some stories are like classic westerns like, “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”, while others rather than trying to imitate a normal western with cowboys, outlaws, and cantinas, try to show the human flaws and hopes that unite us beyond measure of time, as it’s the case of “All Gold Canyon”. While all stories are different both in theme and format, without a doubt the unique story is, “The Mortal Remains”, a story that relies heavily on magical realism and metaphors to be told.