Re-watched this country western Twilight Zone homage to death recently and was flattened out by it, yet again. I always forget how good movies can be directed until I watch a Cohen brothers movie. And then afterwards, for a while, I expect every movie I watch to rise to the same level of competency.
To me, the Cohen brothers feel a bit like Wes Anderson, if Wes Anderson was like an average normal guy, and not Wes Anderson. If that makes any sense. Their movies move along and a speedy almost industrial pace, but every shot is interesting, lovely, and framed with care.
Cohen brother’s dialogue can’t be beat, though. Not even by Quinton Taranto.
If you haven’t seen Buster Scruggs, I have to highly recommend it. Yes it’s completely a western in the John Wayne upbeat American style. Yes part if it could almost be considered a musical. But for all of it’s sunshine and old timey high brow dialogue, it treads on some extremely dark subject matter.
Black comedy, at times. It’s an anthology of short stories, like little Twilight Zone episodes with illustrated book page interludes to introduce each one. Each one is about death in some way shape or form.
The first one is about an expert gunmen growing old and getting overtaken by a younger faster gunslinger- “the competition’s getting younger” as Clint Black said.
The second is the “First time?” James Franco meme, in which he escapes a hanging through a wild turn of events, only to get recaptured and sent back to the gallows.
The third is extremely disturbing, about a man with no arms and no legs surviving in a cold world with no one who cares for him on his ability to draw a crowd with his literary readings- until he stops drawing crowds like he used to.
The fourth is even more disturbing, and the 5th closes it off nicely with a long carriage ride to the other side. I’m going to have to watch it again.
What movies are on your list, that you can just watch forever and never get sick of them?
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