Jamie passion and passionfruit!

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

A happy find on video for this debut director’s effort from Tommy Lee Jones.  His is a modern sort of Western that involves border patrols with Mexico, illegal workers, a dead body and revenge for the murder and a journey back to Mexico to take the body home (hence the various burials).  First of all, the story has twists and turns that keep us guessing even though it seems to have a predictable course (Guillermo Arriaga can be credited for the snaking river here), then there is Chris Menges’ photography which conveys the hot, grey, dry landscape  which hides all sorts of surprises.  We have a rich array of characters starting with Jones’s slightly crazy but also very honourable cowboy, the young guard played by Barry Pepper who goes through a lot of learning on the journey south as the cowboy’s hostage.  Dwight Yoakam is an impotent sheriff, Melissa Leo is great as a resigned diner waitress and January Jones as the young bored wife.  We have a variety of Mexicans with there own stories as well.  But above all Jones gives us a multidimensional and smoothly told film that includes many of the elements of traditional westerns with something very contemporary.  The centre of it all is Tommy Lee Jones himself with a fine acting performance ably supported all round.  Recommended.

¶¶¶¶ +