![\"\"](\"http:\/\/filmgaze.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/buster-scruggs.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Coen Brothers\u2019 (Ethan Coen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Joel Coen<\/a>)\u00a0films may not be to everyone\u2019s taste, but they generally cannot be faulted in technical brilliance. Craft is somewhat overlooked with their first Netflix film here, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs<\/em><\/a>, the main talking point being \u2018was it originally meant to be a TV series?\u2019 which provoked cries of denial from the brothers and cast after its first outing at Venice Film Festival.<\/p>\n Regardless of whether it was or not, it works as a movie in six parts that each tell a tale of life in the Old West. It begins with its namesake, that of Buster Scruggs, played by Tim Blake Nelson<\/a>, a happy-go-lucky gunslinger with a penchant for singing a ballad in between putting lead between strangers\u2019 eyes. This tale alone sets the darkly entertaining tone, with a hilarious duet between Buster and a fellow cowboy at its finale \u2013 a brilliant introduction to the Coen Brothers\u2019 humour and style, if you have missed their classic western,\u00a0True Grit<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n The other five tales introduced by the pages of a book called \u2018The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and Other Tales of the American Frontier<\/em>\u2019 all have their own merit and sharp, dark wit, ending it one oddly noir-like, supernatural tale that feels out of sorts with the rest and feels like a damp squib as a finale, were it not for the tentative thread of death.<\/p>\n With its obvious homage to the Wild West, these bite-size stories are certainly a labour of love for the Coens, a romantic jaunt back to a time when a country was being born and was strikingly volatile, with many stark parallels to present-day USA.<\/p>\n