Reviewing "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs": An interesting anthology of tragedy and hilarity in the Wild West

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a Western anthology film directed by the Coen Brothers, featuring six stories set in the Wild West. The segments "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and "All Gold Canyon" are both relatively lighthearted, "Near Algodones" is rife with black comedy, while "The Mortal Remains" has sinister undertones underlining a stagecoach ride, and "Meal Ticket" and "The Gal Who Got Rattled", the lengthiest segment, are significantly more tragic and bleak.

On the whole, all the segments are very engaging, with great performances, particularly from Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs in "Ballad of Buster Scruggs", Harry Melling as the Artist in "Meal Ticket", and Zoe Kazan as Alice in "The Gal Who Got Rattled".

The anthology nature of the film makes it difficult to talk about the plot at length, but all of them contain some rather interesting an unexpected twists, though most of the stories are sad, bleak or end in tragedy.

The cinematography is also very nice, especially in (once again), "The Gal Who Got Rattled", with shots of the sweeping desert and the lonely caravan trail snaking across.

Overall, this is a very well-made anthology,  showing the different and usually harsh sides of life in the Wild West. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry. The acting is phenomenal too. The only downside is that the last segment, "The Mortal Remains" seems to go on for a little too long.

Score: 8/10