The genius creative partnership that is the Coen Brothers

Having experienced major success with previous country films like “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, “No Country for Old Men” and  “True Grit” which earned them an impressive 10 Oscar nominations in 2011, they now set their eyes on this one person country caper set for release in November. Originally planned as a six-part series, it was condensed into a feature which premiered at Venice Film Festival earlier this year.

Its central character, Tim Blake Nelson plays Buster Scruggs surrounded by a cast of heavyweight actors including, James Franco, Tom Waits, and Brendan Gleeson to Zoe Kazan and Liam Neeson.
There are limited details about the film but from what we know the film follows a series of stories about bank robberies, a theatre troupe, gold miners, and more.

You might remember Tim Blake Nelson who played one of the three breakout prisoners in the Coen Brothers classic, “O Brother Where Out Thou” alongside George Clooney and John Turturro.

Critics who saw the series Ballad of Buster Scruggs at the Venice Film Festival called it, “disturbing,” “hilarious,” and “a charming footnote in the Coens’ career.” Judging just from the trailer it looks like the Coen Brothers have perfected that dark eccentricity once again.

The true-crime genre has become wildly overpopulated since “The Jinx” and “Making a Murderer,” although the search for another Robert Durst has proved elusive. Netflix has seemingly found one – and as a bonus, a female version – in “Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist,” a bizarrely twisted four-part documentary series, built around the strange case of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong.

The story opens in 2003, when a man robbed a bank with a bomb strapped around his neck. The device exploded – a grisly moment that was caught on camera – raising the question of who was responsible, and eventually leading to a peculiar cast of characters, perhaps appropriately situated in Erie, Pa.

At the core of the so-called “pizza bomber heist” is Diehl-Armstrong, described as a brilliant woman who was inordinately compelling to men, so much so that they “would do almost anything for her.” It’s also noted that she was a “master manipulator,” raising the specter of how she turned the robber/victim into a willing or unwitting dupe, as well as others drawn into the elaborate scheme.

The plot grows progressively dense and peculiar, centering on an investigation begun by Trey Borzillieri, who spent years examining the case – interacting with Diehl-Armstrong in prison – and serves as co-director on the project with Barbara Schroeder. When the second episode of a show is titled “The Frozen Body” – referring to a corpse discovered in the wake of a phone tip by one of Diehl-Armstrong’s associates – it’s pretty clear that events around Erie were a little eerie, to say the least.