Movie

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

2018 · 132 min

A wry, fatalistic collection of frontier tales that shifts from slapstick to stark tragedy, leaving a lingering sense of life's cruel randomness.

Tagline: Stories live forever. People don't.
Overview: Vignettes weaving together the stories of six individuals in the old West at the end of the Civil War. Following the tales of a sharp-shooting songster, a wannabe bank robber, two weary traveling performers, a lone gold prospector, a woman traveling the West to an uncertain future, and a motley crew of strangers undertaking a carriage ride.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: darkstrength 3 of 3
absurdstrength 2 of 3
melancholicstrength 2 of 3
satiricalstrength 2 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: death
fate
morality
survival
greed
Places: wilderness
small town
road trip
Era: period
Audience: adult
Form: anthology
nonlinear
ensemble
Content intensity: Gore mild
Language mild
Violence strong
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	4
Horror	3
Humour	6
Realism	6
Romance	2
Tension	5
Darkness	7
Complexity	6
Emotional weight	6

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Where to watch in the UK

Stream

Netflix

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Details

Genres: western, comedy
Directed by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Written by: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, Willie Watson, Clancy Brown, Danny McCarthy, David Krumholtz, Thomas Wingate, Tim DeZarn, E.E. Bell
Music: Carter Burwell
Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel
Runtime: 132 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English

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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

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