The Coen Brothers Go West
Nov 2 — Nov 29, 2018
The newest film from Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, is just the latest expression of their ongoing fascination with the American West. Though born in Minnesota, the brothers have long been drawn to the big skies, wide open spaces, and morally suspect mythologies of the West, which is perpetually fertile territory for (re)discovery. From their first feature, the Texan noir Blood Simple, through the madcap road movie Raising Arizona, and then into more overt glosses on the western, No Country for Old Men and True Grit, the Coens have provocatively wedded their own sardonic view of humanity with America’s image of itself. The Coen Brothers Go West focuses on this notable subset of the filmmakers’ work.