The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) - Tommy Lee Jones

What is it about actor/directors and evocative landscapes? It seems an unavoidable urge for new found auteurs familiar with life in front of the camera to try and evoke the spirit of the great American landscape, all attempting to varying degrees to be some sort of modern John Ford. Not since ironically Ben Stiller has an actor turned director managed to keep a sense of humor. There is always a drastic need to take oneself far too seriously. Then again after the "success" of Jones' Man of the House one wouldn't be surprised that his next film be removed from comedy.

This directorial debut falls far short of the near mythical first films of Costner, Redford, and Gibson, but it succeeds admirably. The reason is most likely because Jones film is a small and intimately personal one, just as the quest of his Pete is in the film. It is not a spectacle like Braveheart, or an epic political commentary on America's domestic underbelly like Costner's, nor is it the dreadfully tragic critique on middle to upper class life in suburbia that Ordinary People was. The film makes no greater connection to history, to a people, or to an ideology. Instead it is a tale of one man's quest to come through for a good friend.

The cast is minimal, with Jones and Barry Pepper supplying almost all of the screentime between them. There are others, notably Julio Cedillo as the title character, and Mellissa Leo and January Jones as the only two women of the story. The women however are clearly supporting, and together make up little more than a subplot, and Melquiades is shown almost entirely in flashblack (at least when he was alive).

The script was written by Guillermo Arriaga, and like his previous 21 Grams and Amores Perros, this two likes to play with a non-linear story. But as we get to decipher what takes place when, Jones changes gears and allows the story after Melquiades death to be told straight through, no more retelling scenes from different points, and no more playing with time. Sure we see glimpses of the live Melquiades but this is nothing more than a temporal cut away, nothing to throw us off balance, as the first act did.

I do believe I missed a burial somewhere in the story, because he was only technically buried twice in the film, but well maybe I'm missing something, or perhaps there is some figurative burial that I'm supposed to read into. Regardless Three Burials is an overall good debut from any director, and might just mark the career of Jones the revisionist. The film is set in modern times but it certainly envokes the spirit of classic western films, and for that I can applaud his effort, because we don't get too many stories of cowboys (straight ones anyways) this day and age.

Grade B