THE BALLAD OF BUSTER SCRUGGS

 I guess it was inevitable that the Coen Brothers would do a portmanteau picture, little pieces resembling short stories or comic strips brought to life. Wasn't that what "Raising Arizona" was, a Roadrunner cartoon with actors? Of course, anyone can do a portmanteau picture and add nothing to the segments other than a fundamental blandness. The Coens, however, have distinguished themselves from the beginning with a style unlike that of any of their contemporaries. You can recognise a Coen Brother's film from a distance. In the end, they may all look and sound the same but that's their signature just as we know a Fellini or a Bunuel or a Hitchcock.

"The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" is six tales of the Old West; part pastiche, part homage, part realism, very funny certainly but philosophical and deeply moving, too. The link lies in the Coen Brothers' style and the depth of feeling they bring to the individual pieces. The title comes from the first story, a surreal comedy-western inspired in part, perhaps, by Mel Brooks as a vehicle for the great Tim Blake Nelson as a singing cowboy who isn't quite what he seems. It's very funny and is closest in style to "Raising Arizona".

The second story is a gorgeous black joke about an incompetent bank robber played by James Franco in dead-pan style. The third segment, "Meal Ticket" is virtually a two-hander and is a small masterpiece of visual storytelling with wonderful performances from both Liam Neeson and a remarkable Harry Melling and it shows the Coens can do 'serious' impeccably and the same can be said for the fifth and longest segment, "The Girl Who Got Rattled", a tale of the Oregon Trail that again never goes where we expect it to and taken on its own is one of the very best things the brothers have ever done.

If the other two stories don't quite measure up they are still remarkable in their intelligence and are beautifully played. The first is really a one-man show for Tom Waits while the closing segment is like something Guy De Maupassant might have written and the whole thing is stunningly photographed by the great Bruno Delbonnel. Made by Netflix it was rumoured that the film was originally to be a television series but now it seems it was never intended to be anything other than what it is and surely these combined stories must rank with some of the brother's very best work. I look forward to revisiting them frequently.