The Ballad ofBuster Scruggs

It's always heavenly satisfying to watch films made by masters who are extremely adept at their craft. One such pair is The Coen Brothers and their 2018 western anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, which will go down in history as one of the best directed celluloids on the planet.

Comprising of six stories taking place in the Old West, the brothers have tipped their hats off to the classic genre by contributing various sub-flavours namely musical comedy, dark humour, tragedy, treasure-hunting crime drama, romance and horror in episodic form to the Western motion pictures compendium.

It begins with the San Saba Songbird himself who sings and slings gun - Buster Scruggs (Tim Blake Nelson). With a guitar in his hand and fantastic original songs coming out of his mouth, the man rides through the monotonous landscape of valleys as he narrates his glory. This part of the film is too funny! You'll instantly fall in love with this titular character! His constant fourth-wall breaking, insane gun-wielding skills and most importantly, his over-the-top invincibility are downright hilarious. Buster shooting a man just after the latter asks whether his iron works, tapping the tabletop leading to Çurly Joe (Clancy Brown) shooting himself in the face and chipping off the avenger's fingers plus head by aiming backwards using a mirror are rollicking, shocking, creative, brutal and darkly humorous! That is why the ending seems to be a punch on the throat for us, seeing a man established to be this good being able to meet his match and creator after all. Rest in peace, Buster Scruggs, with your cute little angelic wings.

Next up, we witness the most side-splitting bank robbery ever! An ill-fated cowboy (James Franco) who only wanted to bushwhack a financial establishment ends getting caught by a pan-covered son-of-a-bitch! After surviving a hanging sentence at first thanks to the ambushing Indians and a stranger who's kind enough to save him from getting strangled under a tree as his horse kept moving forward in pursuit of grass, the cowboy finds himself wrongly accused and put to sleep for a crime he didn't commit! The Coen Brothers added a little spice towards the end, making the cowboy's eyes meet a pretty girl before eventually going down the gallows. This instant moment of give-and-snatch hope is a thrust in the narrative, faking us a hope for one second before crumbling it to the ground as dust, just like how the protagonist would have felt. Talk about how quick luck can befriend or betray one in the Old West.

Moving on, we meet an impresario (Liam Neeson) who earns money off a limbless stage artist (Harry Melling). If bleak harsh truth had a face, this Meal Ticket episode would be it. Through fantastic visual storytelling, pure adherence to filmmaking language and no dialogues between the main characters, we see how the show's reception collapsing day by day until the maker's attention shifted to another money-making machine - The Calculating Capon alias The Pecking Pythagorean. From taking care of the handicapped man, to turning his chair the other way while fucking a whore before dumping him off on a flowing river as he serves no good no more, The Coen Brothers meant to tell how opportunistic and situation-driven the Old West can be. The fact that we do not see the river-dumping event happening onscreen made us feel even bad and sad.

Gold and the American Frontier go hand-in-hand. Where there's gold, there's always a prospector. In All Gold Canyon, again through striking visual storytelling, stern adherence to filmmaking language and great use of geometry, we experience how the work of a gold panner is like. The way he narrows down the gold trail from specks to nuggets to chunks right to the source itself is an intriguingly educative process! Even the survival part of stealing an owl's egg is beautifully picturized. Speaking of beautiful, replay this episode over and over again just to soak your eyes into the sceneries, animals, colours and sound design! The Coen Brothers have the sixth sense to read the minds of the audiences. With a gold seeker digging for fortune in the open, won't there be a potential thief lurking around? Sure enough, one appears and the way it's subtly suggested through shadow movement is brilliant! With a satisfying climax, we're happy for the prospector's findings after all the bloody hard work!

Who would have thought a love tale in the Old West would be a bankable idea? Well, thankfully The Coen Brothers did, for not we wouldn't have had the chance to watch one of the sweetest, endearing and warm romance starring Zoe Kazan as Ms. Longabaugh and Bill Heck as Mr. Knapp. With fluently spontaneous proceedings, The Gal Who Got Rattled yet again gives hope after Ms. Longabaugh finally finds a man who understands her and robs it right of us as she takes her own life thinking her saviour has been killed by the Indians (Grainger Hines). What can be more heartbreaking?

As for the finale, we travel with a group of a five in a coach to Fort Morgan. The Mortal Remains started off as the weakest episode of the lot before becoming as good as the rest by the time it resolves. Five completely distinct individuals with varying meters of thoughts, opinions and belief systems argues along the journey. But no matter how, what or who they are, they all still faced The Harvesters of Souls. Turns out they are already dead and headed to afterlife in a western setting! This twist right here is so Coen!

The reason why The Ballad of Buster Scruggs has such high visual and audio quality is solely because of the expert direction! Sandwiched between a story book opening and closing, a new story unfolds as the pages turn. With this simple construction, The Coen Brothers locks the perfect mood and tone in while patiently taking the necessary time to roll in the title and end credits. They made us kids who yearn for bedtime stories! Bruno Delbonnel's cinematography is the work of a virtuoso! Carter Burwell's score is immaculate! Action choreography is startling! Computer graphics though, could have been better at many parts.

Jess Gonchor's production design is rich and pristine! Just look at the bandoliers, chaps, satchels, gears, all of it! More importantly, we can learn something important here about dirt treatment. If your story's tone is serious like All Gold Canyon or Meal Ticket, you have to focus on implementing the right dirt treatment to it to make the world and characters worn and gritty. On the other hand, if it's a comical gag like The Ballad of Buster Scruggs or Near Algodones, make sure the attires, sets, equipment and everything under the roof of your universe is clean, untouched and proper to suit the tone you're targeting for.