A Masterpiece

I knew there must be a good reason why I recently became a Netflix subscriber (and no, it wasn't the prospect of Harry and Meghan's stimulating contributions). The immediate reason was to watch Unorthodox, which proved a bit of a disappointment, and since then I've watched a few other things. But then, the other evening, in a flash of revelation, it came back to me, the good reason – it was to watch The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, the Coen brothers' western anthology film, available only (I believe) on Netflix.
  I expected it to be good – it's the Coen brothers after all, and they rarely slip up – but I had no idea this collection of short films was going to be so good, so good it left me reeling. It's a masterpiece of storytelling and myth-making, cinematography, casting, production design, music, everything – and all infused with the Coens' characteristic blend of pungent comedy and dark drama. It is also at times intensely and unexpectedly moving. There are six films, each one taking off from an old-style illustration in a (fictional) book of western stories, and it's a tribute to the strength of these tales that I, with my sieve-like memory for narrative, vividly remember each one and could even provide a synopsis if required. I'm not going to do that here (they're handily summarised in Wikipedia, where the cast for each film is also listed). What I'll do is join in the critics' game of ranking the six films. So here's my ranking, for what it's worth – and even the least of the six is, in my estimation, way above virtually anything else I've seen in recent years:

1. The Gal Who Got Rattled.
2. The Mortal Remains.
3. Meal Ticket.
4. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
5. Near Algodones.
6. All Gold Canyon.