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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)

Director:
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Western
NORWEGIAN TITLE
-
RUNNING TIME
133 minutes
Producer:
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen
Megan Ellison
Sue Naegle
Robert Graf
Screenwriter:
Joel Coen
Ethan Coen


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

Buster Scruggs Tim Blake Nelson
Curly Joe Clancy Brown

Near Algodones

Cowboy James Franco ½
Teller Stephen Root
The Man in Black Ralph Ineson
Drover Jesse Luken

Meal Ticket

Impresario Liam Neeson
Artist (Harrison) Harry Melling

All Gold Canyon

Prospector Tom Waits ½
Young Man Sam Dillon

The Gal Who Got Rattled

Alice Longabaugh Zoe Kazan
Billy Knapp Bill Heck
Mr. Arthur Grainger Hines
Gilbert Longabaugh Jefferson Mays

The Mortal Remains

Lady Tyne Daly
Irishman Brendan Gleeson
Englishman Jonjo O'Neill
Frenchman Saul Rubinek
Trapper Chelcie Ross

 

Review

This anthology film is the result of six American frontier stories that the Coen brothers had written over the years. The stories all share a Western theme, but differ in just about every other respect, ranging from the giddy title story via the otherworldly "Meal Ticket" to the cheerful "All Gold Canyon" and the poignant "The Gal Who Got Rattled". The filmmaking is of top class all along, and the stories all leave their mark in some way or other. My favourite of many fine performances here belongs to Tom Waits (who is not alien to anthology films) as an infectiously optimistic prospector.

Copyright © 03.01.2019 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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