The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

As you probably know if you have been following me for a while, I'm not the biggest fan of westerns, which is why I decided to pass The Ballad of Buster Scruggs when it released. Yes, even though the Coen brothers made it. And the cast is stellar. It's been popping out in my Netflix homepage quite often lately so I decided to give it a shot.

It is a western anthology that features six stories taking place in the Old West: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs follows a cheerful and singing gunslinger (Tim Blake Nelson); Near Algodones follows a nameless cowboy (James Franco) who gets caught in a bank robbery; Meal Ticket follows an impresario (Liam Neeson) and his armless and legless young artist (Harry Melling) who travel from town to town to recite classics; All Gold Canyon follows an elderly prospector (Tom Waits) at a remote creek; The Gal Who Got Rattled follows the journey of a young woman (Zoe Kazan) on a westward-bound wagon train; The Mortal Remains follows the five passengers of a stagecoach.

These are six stories that have very little in common as they don't share the plot, characters nor have the same tone —while the first is purely comedic relief, the stories get more serious and darker as the film moves forward. And yet The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is the most compelling, fun and thought-provoking anthology I've seen as each story has its unique take on death, which came in many forms in the Wild West, while dealing with human frailty, morality, vanity, overconfidence, and duplicity.

In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is filled with compelling characters. They don't have a lot of depth nor development as time does not allow that, but they immediately feel real, they are likeable and sympathetic, and interesting to follow around —I found myself invested in all of them.

The acting is also great. Everyone does a wonderful job, from James Franco to Liam Neeson to Zoe Kazan but there are a few standouts: Tim Blake Nelson is brilliant as the titular character, Buster Scruggs; Stephen Root is very mesmerizing as a bank teller in the second story; Tom Waits absolutely nails the role of a gold prospector.

Netflix

The screenplay is also filled with brilliant dialogue, especially in the final vignette as the five characters discuss different philosophical topics. In addition, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has gorgeous, jaw-dropping cinematography that transports you to the setting of the film, the Old West.  The scenery is also on point and the costumes are great. The score is phenomenal, and the songs from the first story are very catchy and enjoyable.

Ultimately, this is a film that blends action, comedy, drama and romance incredibly well, that keeps you interested and engaged in spite of the stories being completely different from one another. What I would change something about it? Well, maybe as I've liked the characters to connect as they do in Tarantino's movies.

Gangs of New York (2002)

I finally watched Lars von Trier's Dogville last week and I loved it, so I figured it was about time to watch another of those movies I've been putting off for years because of its length, Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. 

It is set in 1863 when gangs ran the streets of New York and the government couldn't or wouldn't gain control of the city, and it mainly focuses on Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio), a young man whose father (Liam Neeson) was killed sixteen years before by Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis), the leader of the most powerful gang in New York, and is now seeking revenge. 

Scorsese's intention is pretty clear, he wanted to make a realistic, historically accurate movie about the story of New York. The problem is that he chose a revenge plot that isn't of the most compelling as it is entirely predictable and with a resolution and could and should have come a lot earlier. As for the history of New York, specifically of lower Manhattan, it is quite messy and confusing because there's too much going on —abolitionism, immigration, racism, to name a few of the topics— and not enough time to address all these issues properly. The story did start out interesting, but eventually, it lost my interest completely. 

The characters aren't very helpful either. Amsterdam Vallon has to be one of the weakest leading characters ever. He's more of a supporting character in his own story than anything else as he lacks characterization and development. He is not interesting and you just don't care about his fate. Leonardo DiCaprio is quite dreadful in the role as he lacks the presence requested by such a role. Bill "the Butcher" Cutting is one of the most cartoonish villains out there and yet he is way more charming and interesting than the guy we are supposed to root for, and the credits entirely go to Daniel Day-Lewis who yet again, despite the script, gives a strong performance and makes quite a threatening villain and ends up being the only compelling thing in Gangs of New York. The rest of the characters and cast are just mediocre, Cameron Diaz and her Jenny Everdeane being the worst of them all as her performance is terrible as always and her character exists for no reason whatsoever.

Miramax Films

It's the direction, however, the most disappointing aspect of the film. Gangs of New York looks amateurish at its best —some shots are so ugly they make your eyes hurt—, the editing is choppy, the action isn't exciting and the humour not only doesn't add anything to the film, but it makes it look cheap. The scenery is quite beautiful and the costumes are well done but overall I think Gangs of New York is quite an overrated film. If I didn't know it, I would have never guessed Martin Scorsese was behind this.

Six Shooter (2004)

I never watch short movies. There isn't a reason behind it, I just don't. But when I had the idea of writing a piece for Martin McDonaugh's birthday, I figured I should watch Six Shooter, his Oscar-winning short film. 

Six Shooter tells the story of a recently widowed man, Donnelly (Brendan Gleeson), who founds himself on a train in the same carriage as a couple (David Wilmot and Aisling O'Sullivan) who has just lost their son for coth death and an annoying and cynical young man (Rúaidhrí Conroy) who arouses his fellow passengers with rude and offensive behavior. 

It's a very simple an yet brilliant and quite disturbing story about people dealing with death in very different ways. It's developed in such an interesting way and its 30 minutes will deliver several shocking twists and surprises. The plot is exaggerated --it's something you would expect if you have seen anything from McDonagh-- and yet it's believable and keeps you glued to the screen. 

McDonagh was also able to fit in the short running time very interesting characters with a good (for its running time) characterization and development. The most interesting characters are of course Donnelly and the young man. The first is the only one in all the acts of the film, but he is some sort of viewer, he doesn't have control over anything. Things happen around him and there's nothing he can do. The young man, on the other hand, is only in the second act but he is at the center of the action. The performances from Brendan Gleeson and Rúaidhrí Conroy make them even more compelling.

Magnolia Home Entertainment, The Works

Just like McDonagh's feature films, Six Shooter too has the right balance between comedy and drama and the black comedy is spot on. Of course, if you don't like dark comedy, you won't find this funny, but if you do, you'll spend some quite hilarious 30 minutes watching this. There's a story told by the young man about a cow with trapped wind that is random and bizarre as it is hilarious. The short is worth watching for that scene alone. 

The camera-work is very nice, especially on the train, and manages to keep the tension up. The scenery is also very beautiful --thank you, Irland-- and the photography is breathtaking.