I saw it last night and have been thinking about it a lot since then. I liked it a lot. I think I’m in the minority here in not liking the “Ballad” episode as much as the others. It was funny but the ending just got too silly for me. Some of Buster’s dialogue was really funny, and I appreciate that it was deliberately cartoonish, but I found the “erudite stranger befuddles the outlaws” trope a little tired.
I loved the crazy bank teller in the second story, and a day later I’m still chuckling about “pan shot!” for reasons I can’t explain. I also love the dimwitted James Franco character using his last words at his (first) hanging to complain that it was unfair that the old man used the pans for armor. I appreciated that the bank was in Tucumcari, were Col. Mortimer forces the train to stop in For a Few Dollars More.
“Meal Ticket” was quite disturbing. The Impresario and the Artist never spoke directly to each other, but the Impresario was caring and at times tender toward the Artist: the Impresario feeds the Artist first, hold him up to pee, and even helps him blow on his food too cool it down. How quickly human emotions change. For me, this was the most cynical and unsettling episode. The physical brutality was off screen, but we still witnessed the Artist’s caregiver turn on him over money, and smile while doing it. Oh, and I also thought the Impresario probably got scammed with the chicken.
The prospector story had what passes for a happy ending in the Cohen universe. I didn’t catch the detail about the wound still bleeding. That is pretty clever. While I liked it overall, I did think the prospector was a bit too spry for a old guy who had just been shot. But Tom Waits was great, and it was gorgeous to look at.
I knew “The Gal…” was going to end badly, but I didn’t expect it quite that way. I kept thinking Mr. Knapp was going to turn on her, and did like that they made him a really decent guy who promised to help Alice out even if she rejected his proposal. The bit where Alice is lost in a moment of innocent joy right before things go totally to shit was not unexpected. It was a short version of A Serious Man, where you think the suffering protagonist is about to make it out intact, but then, WHAMMO! I think because I saw it coming, more or less, it wasn’t that emotionally affecting for me. But the acting was great, and it was, like the other stories, beautifully shot.
I did not pick up on the death and afterlife symbolism of “Mortal Remains”, but this thread has made me think about that. I did pick up on the obviously fake building facades, but I just chalked it up to the filmmakers taking a shortcut. In retrospect, I’ve seen enough Cohen Brothers movies that I should have known they wouldn’t let something like that slip by without reason. Anyway, until reading this thread, I looked at “Mortal Remains” as a metaphor for movies themselves, which distract us with stories about ourselves – but not ourselves – while death sneaks up on us from behind. While the other passengers debate the nature of humanity, the bounty hunters know that it’s all a meaningless distraction, and the indifference of the world catches up to us all regardless of our philosophy. The passengers are afraid to go into the hotel with these two evangelists of a cold and absurd universe. Maybe the obviously fake buildings and matte painted sky are just meant to be hints that this story is a comment on movies.
I need to watch it again, if for no other reason than to see the “pan shot!” bit again.
from the wagon train, but was supposed to have been put down - the guy warns that the dog may follow the train. The dog shows-up later, after we have invested emotionally in the future couple, only to play a part in the tragic ending. If the dog was shot, as was originally expected, it’s likely our couple would have seen a happier ending. The dog lives. I think all Coen movies have a small dog or cat, right?