Written, produced, edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a collection of stories set in the American West as it play into the many adventures of misadventures of people in the West. The film is an anthology film of sorts that play into six different stories relating to the West. Starring Tim Blake Nelson, Tyne Daly, James Franco, Tom Waits, Zoe Kazan, Harry Melling, Liam Neeson, and Brendan Gleeson. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a majestic yet whimsical film from the Coen Brothers.
Set in the American West, the film follow six different stories in the American West as it all relates to the themes of death as well as people’s encounter with it. All of which is told in a book about these tales of the West and these characters as they encounter with some idea of death. In The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a cowboy arrives into town singing songs as he also disposes challengers through gunfights while also commenting about the ideas of humanity where he meets a new challenger. Near Algodones is about a bank robber is attacked by the bank’s clerk where pots and pans where he’s later knocked out and captured by a mysterious man in black only for the day to get weirder following an attack by the Comanche, an encounter with a drover, and all sorts of bad shit in one strange day. Meal Ticket revolves around an impresario travels through the cold West with his performer in a young legless/armless artist who recites poetry, stories, and other texts where they endure a declining audience and lack of money prompting the impresario to find a new act.
All Gold Canyon, that is based on a story by Jack London, is about a prospector arrives on a mountain valley to find gold as he dwells into the land to find gold where he makes a discovery but also another one that is far more deadly. In The Gal Who Got Rattled that is inspired by story by Stewart Edward White, a young woman is on the Oregon Trail with her dim-witted older brother who dies suddenly of cholera where she befriends a train leader who is sympathetic to her plight as he thinks about having a future with her once the trail ends. The Mortal Remains is about five different people traveling on a stagecoach as tension arises during the journey as they all tell their own views while dealing with the fact that there’s a dead body on top of the stagecoach as some wonder why. These six different stories play into themes that play into the danger and uncertainty of the West as well as the realities of a world that is ever-changing.
The direction of the Coen Brothers definitely owe a lot to Westerns of the past but also provide their own visual language in the film as it relates to the presentation of the different stories in the film. Each story opens with a picture in the book and closes with the last page of that story as it’s told through a book as it would then cut to a landscape as many of the film’s locations are shot in the Nebraskan Panhandle, New Mexico, and Telluride in Colorado. The Coen Brothers’ direction would have these gorgeous wide shots of certain locations where they also create these striking compositions that add to the beauty whether it’s a shot of a man about to be hanged or a certain location in the valley. While there are comical elements in these stories with the titular story being the most comical of them all as it’s partially a musical. The rest range into elements of dark comedy as it relates to the theme of death as it play into the sense of melancholia and changing times of the West that is evident in stories such as Meal Ticket and The Gal Who Got Rattled as the former is largely dramatic and minimalist in its story while the latter is more about this uncertainty on the Oregon Trail.
Serving as editors under the Roderick Jaynes pseudonym, the Coen Brothers’ approach to the editing help add to not just the drama but also humor with its usage of jump-cuts and dissolves along with rhythmic cuts in certain aspects of the film. Most particularly in All Gold Canyon where the prospector (Tom Waits) is digging holes trying to find gold along with the montage of the artist in Harrison (Harry Melling) reciting famous texts to the growing declining audience in Meal Ticket. The usage of close-ups and medium shots are evident in The Mortal Remains as it is shot largely inside the stagecoach to play into the dramatic tension as well as the sense of intrigue of where the five passengers are going. It is the Coen Brothers playing into the dangers of the American West as they definitely show violent moments that are graphic as it add to the specter of death. Overall, the Coen Brothers craft an evocative yet offbeat film about six strange tales in the American West.
Cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with its usage of natural lighting for some of the exteriors in the daytime along with the usage of tints and filters for some interior scenes along with shots set at night or in the evening as it’s a highlight of the film. Production designer Jess Gonchor, with set decorator Nancy Haigh plus art directors Steve Christensen and Chris Farmer, does amazing work with the look of the buildings that some of the characters go to including the saloons as well as the stagecoach and wagons for some parts of the film. Costume designer Mary Zophres does fantastic work with the costumes as it play into the period of the times from the shiny look of the titular character to the rougher and ragged look of other cowboys as it’s a highlight of the film.
Makeup effects supervisor Robin Myriah Hatcher does terrific work with the look of the characters with the artist being the most notable as well as a few passengers on the stagecoach. Visual effects supervisors Michael Huber and Alex Lemke do excellent work with the visual effects where it does do bits of set-dressing in some parts while doing its best work on the look of the artist. Sound editors Craig Berkey and Skip Lievsay do superb work with the sound as it help play into the atmosphere of the locations as well as how gunfire and such sounds during a few gun battles in the film. The film’s music by Carter Burwell is incredible for its rich and bombastic musical score that feature some flourishing string arrangements along with elements of folk and country music to play into the air of the times.
The casting by Ellen Chenoweth is wonderful as it feature some notable small roles and appearances from E.E. Bell as a piano saloon player, Tom Proctor as a Cantina bad man, and David Krumholtz as a saloon Frenchman in the titular segment while Jesse Luken as the drover and Ralph Ineson as the Man in Black are terrific in their brief appearances in Near Algodones. In the titular opening segment, the performances of Clancy Brown as the gambler Curly Joe, Willie Watson as a young gunslinger, and Tim Blake Nelson as the titular character are great with Nelson being a jovial and engaging individual who sings about his exploits while being a great gunslinger. In Near Algodones, Stephen Root is fantastic as the bank teller who is more than prepared for a bank robbery while James Franco is superb as the robber who finds himself in dangerous situations. Liam Neeson and Harry Melling are incredible in their respective roles as the impresario and the artist named Harrison in the Meal Ticket segment with Neeson being largely silent as a man trying to make money while Melling displays a charisma through the things he says.
Tom Waits is brilliant as the prospector trying to find gold in All Gold Canyon while Sam Dillon is wonderful in his small role as a young man trying to rob the prospector. In The Girl Who Got Rattled, the performances of Zoe Kazan as Alice Longabaugh, Bill Heck as Billy Knapp, and Grainger Haines as Mr. Arthur are amazing with Kazan being the major standout as a young woman coping with her situation while there’s notable small roles from Jefferson Mays as Alice’s brother Gilbert and Ethan Dubin as Matt who is trying to cheat Alice. In The Mortal Remains, the performances of Tyne Daly as the devout Christian woman, Saul Rubinek as the Frenchman, Chelcie Ross as trapper, Jonjo O’Neill as the Englishman, and Brendan Gleeson as the Irishman all sitting at the stagecoach are excellent to play into the tension and differences of these individuals as they deal with the journey ahead and their destination as well as the reality of their environment.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a sensational film from Joel and Ethan Coen. Featuring a great ensemble cast, compelling stories on death and the unexpected elements of life, gorgeous cinematography, and an incredible music score and soundtrack. It’s a film that is an unusual yet engaging anthology film of sorts set in the American West that play into all sorts of situations and stories that all relate to uncertainty in those times. In the end, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs is a phenomenal film from Joel and Ethan Coen.
Coen Brothers Films: Blood Simple - Raising Arizona - Miller's Crossing - Barton Fink - The Hudsucker Proxy - Fargo - The Big Lebowski - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - The Man Who Wasn't There - Intolerable Cruelty - The Ladykillers - Paris Je T'aime-Tulieres -To Each His Own Cinema-World Cinema - No Country for Old Men - Burn After Reading - A Serious Man - True Grit - Inside Llewyn Davis - Hail, Caesar!
The Auteurs #9: The Coen Brothers: Pt. 1 - Pt. 2
© thevoid99 2018
Based on the novel by David Grann, The Lost City of Z is a fictionalized story of Percy Fawcett’s exploration through the Amazon to find a lost city as he would go on various trips in his lifetime to find this mysterious city. Written for the screen and directed by James Gray, the film is a look into a man’s determination to uncover a legendary myth that would later become an obsession. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Angus MacFayden, Ian McDiarmid, Franco Nero, Harry Melling, Clive Francis, and Tom Holland. The Lost City of Z is a ravishing yet eerie film from James Gray.
Told in the span of 20 years in the early 20th Century, the film follows the exploits of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) who was a military officer that was asked by the Royal Geographical Society into surveying a land that is at the center of a border dispute between Brazil and Bolivia. This journey into South America and the Amazon would lead to this obsession in finding what he believes to be a lost city where the first idea of civilization began. It would be a journey that Fawcett would venture into through the course of 20 years where he would return to Britain with his findings only to be met with ridicule and skepticism. James Gray’s screenplay revolves around three expeditions Fawcett would make as he would often be accompanied by Corporal Henry Costin (Robert Pattinson) in these expeditions since Costin does know a lot about the Amazonian rain forests. The first act is about Fawcett’s life as an officer in Britain as well as his first expeditions through the Amazon where he would make a discovery about the possibility of a lost city.
The second act is about another expedition with Costin and another soldier in Corporal Arthur Manley (Edward Ashley), who also took part in the first expedition, where they’re joined by famed biologist James Murray (Angus MacFayden) who is unprepared for the trek through the Amazon as he becomes a liability into the expedition that would be stopped abruptly due to Murray’s selfishness and the news of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination that would start World War I. While it is obvious there are some dramatic liberties that do relate to Fawcett’s explorations as well as what happened to him in World War I, it does play into the fact that the man was devoted to his family including his wife Nina (Sienna Miller) whom he always turn to for advice. The third act is about Fawcett’s final expedition with his eldest son Jack (Tom Holland) in 1925 as well as the fame he received about his past expeditions before embarking on the journey that would eventually be shrouded with mystery.
Gray’s direction is definitely mesmerizing for the scope of the locations he captures as well as the sense of danger and mystery into exploring the Amazon. Shot largely on location in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland for scenes set in Britain with the scenes of the Amazon shot near Santa Marta, Colombia. Gray would create an atmosphere for the two different worlds where they both share an air of serenity and chaos. The scenes set in Britain would play into a world that is organized but also with an air of superiority towards their idea about the people in the Amazon believing to be savages. It’s an idea that Fawcett doesn’t agree with as Gray would use medium shots and close-ups in how characters interact with one another in Europe with some wide shots for some of the location. When Fawcett is at the Amazon with Costin and Manley, the direction is definitely looser but also with an air of unpredictability as it relates to the encounter with natives. Notably in the second act where Costin is able to communicate with the natives where he, Costin, and Manley make a major discovery about their way of living.
Gray would also play into this air of chaos that looms into Fawcett’s findings with those in the British government not impressed with his findings and claims while there would be a brief detour for a World War I battle scene where Fawcett has to lead a regiment with Costin at his side. It would include a small scene where Fawcett and other soldiers meet a fortune teller who is aware of Fawcett’s obsession with finding the lost city as she would tell him it is his destiny. The film’s third act does play into this air of intrigue in Gray’s direction into not just Fawcett’s return to the Amazon with his son Jack joining him but also what has changed in the years since his last major expedition. Still, Gray wants this final expedition to be more about the bonding between father and son who went through a period of estrangement as they would embark on a discovery that would create intrigue but also the idea that what they found is something much bigger. Overall, Gray crafts an intoxicating and haunting film about a man’s desire to find a lost city in the middle of the Amazon in the course of 20 years.
Cinematographer Darius Khondji does brilliant work with the film’s cinematography with the usage of sepia-drenched lighting for some of the nighttime interiors in Britain as well as a few nighttime scenes with the usage of fire while emphasizing on low-key colors for some of the exterior scenes in the jungle as it’s a highlight of the film. Editors John Axelrad and Lee Haugen do excellent work with the editing as it is straightforward with some rhythmic cuts for some of the action and suspense including a few montages that play into the surrealism that Fawcett would encounter. Production designer John Vincent Puzos, with set decorators Maria Andrea Rangel and Naomi Moore plus senior art director Fiona Gavin, does amazing work with the look of the homes that the Fawcett families lived in as well as the site for one of the tribes that Fawcett and his men encounter where they stay briefly yet peacefully. Costume designer Sonia Grande does fantastic work with the costumes from the dresses that Nina wears as well as the suits and clothes that the men wore during those times.
Hair/makeup designer Nana Fischer does terrific work with the look of Costin with his beard as well as some of the hairstyle that Nina sported in those times. Special effects supervisor Simon Cockren and visual effects supervisor Eran Dinur do superb work with some of the special effects that include bits of set dressing as well as the look for some of the animals Fawcett and his team encounter. Sound editor Robert Hein does incredible work with the sound in capturing the atmosphere of the jungles and for the World War I sequence as well as the quieter moments in the film. The film’s music by Christopher Spellman is wonderful for its orchestral score that play into the suspense and drama for some of the scenes set in the Amazon while music supervisors George Drakoulias and Randall Poster provide a mixture of classical and traditional pieces of the times as well as opera piece that Fawcett and his men would hear early in the film.
The casting by Kate Ringsell is great as it feature some notable small roles from Nathaniel Bates Fisher and Daniel Huttlestone in their respective roles as the adolescent and teenage versions of Brian Fawcett, Bethan Coomber as the seven-year old Joan Fawcett, Elena Solovey as the fortune teller Madame Kumel, Pedro Coello as Fawcett’s native guide Tadjui who accompanies on the first expedition, Harry Melling as a young government official in William Barclay who mocks Fawcett’s findings, Tom Mulheron and Bobby Smalldridge in their respective roles as the young and adolescent Jack Fawcett, Edward Ashley as the often-reliable Corporal Arthur Manley who joins Fawcett and Costin in their expeditions, Clive Francis as the RGS official Sir John Scott Kettle who is a supporter of Fawcett’s expeditions as well as the few that believed him, and Ian McDiarmid in a terrific performance as Sir George Goldie who heads the Royal Geographical Society in which he assigns Fawcett to survey the land between Brazil and Bolivia to settle their border dispute. Franco Nero is superb as the mysterious Baron de Gondoriz as a man who lives in the jungle as he would lend Fawcett information as well as a guide.
Angus MacFayden is fantastic as the famed biologist James Murray who joins Fawcett for an expedition that he was unprepared for as he would be a liability and would later try to discredit Fawcett for his own selfish reasons. Tom Holland is excellent as Jack Fawcett in his teens and young adulthood as a young man unhappy with his father’s reputation and not being around only to later join him on the final expedition where he would more than acquit himself into life in the jungle. Sienna Miller is amazing as Nina Fawcett as Percy’s wife who is treated as an equal to her husband as well as help him find information and such while knowing that Jack wants to join his father. Robert Pattinson is brilliant as Corporal Henry Costin as Fawcett’s right-hand man who had been to the Amazon and help him find certain pieces as it’s a low-key yet reserved performance from Pattinson that allows him to show so much by doing so little. Finally, there’s Charlie Hunnam in an incredible performance as Percy Fawcett as a man determined to find this lost city where Hunnam display a sense of humility and curiosity as well as knowing that not everything he does is the right decision as it is Hunnam giving one of his finest performances of his career so far.
The Lost City of Z is a tremendous film from James Gray that features great performances from Charlie Hunnam, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson, and Tom Holland. Along with its gorgeous visuals, beautiful locations, intricate sound work, and eerie music, the film is definitely a mesmerizing look into a man’s obsession to find a place that is considered mythical but also discover wonders that traditional society would have trouble understanding. In the end, The Lost City of Z is a phenomenal film from James Gray.
James Gray Films: Little Odessa - The Yards - We Own the Night - Two Lovers - The Immigrant (2013 film) - Ad Astra – The Auteurs #67: James Gray
© thevoid99 2018
