The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Recommended Film)

Every couple months I watch a film that really resonates with me. Most recently was this film The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. It's directed by the Coen brothers, and like all their works has their particular flavor of cinematography.

 The film consists of six short stories taking place in the wild west around the time of cowboys, six shooters, and saloons (whatever time period that was).

One thing that I really like about this film is that each story in it is really fucked up, but in a tasteful way. And with each ending there is a new one that starts, so you get to enjoy an open ended or abrupt turn of events which leave you thinking, "well yeah that's the logical conclusion of that sort of predicament." While still having the satisfaction of more narrative to uncover and weird dilemmas to witness.

Every character in the stories have such rich texture to them in their demeanor and their attire. You can tell them have lived a full life before you caught a very personal glimpse of this moment in their life.

How each character reacts to the situation they are in also adds a rich immersion to the stories. It feels as though each character has spent a life time developing their own unique perspective on the surreal turn of events unfolding before you both.

Throughout the film characters adopt solutions to their problems which are greedy, selfish, and pathetic, but also very practical. You can totally see why someone of their nature would do something so fucked up in the situation that you see them in.

The film really brings home the idea that life in the wild west was fucked up. And also that human nature is fucked up. And the lawless transient nature of the wild west in this film is an environment to explore the lawless transient nature of human beings.