Movie Review

I checked out The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada last night, which won acclaim at Cannes last year as Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut. This flick is way under the radar screen, but definitely worth watching as a modern western that is alternately quirky and murky in dealing with its main theme of redemption.

It is impossible not to conjure Cormac McCarthy in evaluating this movie (as has been done in many reviews), because of the Mexican-Texas border setting, modern times, and other thematic elements; but these comparisons are apt only on the surface. The engine of the movie draws on the potential of violence instead of violence itself. Instead of McCarthy's majestic prose, this story is full of irony and includes choppy jumps from the now to the past.

The border is a great setting for a story, as has been proved many times by McCarthy as well as other movies like Lone Star and Lonesome Dove. Along with McCarthy, the latter is also a pink elephant in the room during the flick. Lee plays an old salty rancher who doesn't have much to see, but beyond his seemingly impenetrable exterior has an intrinsic goodness. Very much like the Woodrow Call character he portrayed in the classic miniseries of the Larry McMurtry book. Those familiar with Dove may have difficulty seeing the distinction between the characters.

The film has a pleasant low-budget feel that doesn't jeopardize the presentation. I can't say the same for Dwight Yoakum who always seems to be creeping into small roles. I personally wish he would hop into his long, white, Cadillac and head back for Bakersfield rather than regaling us with wooden line readings that, in terms of stale badness, remind me of Hayden Christiansen's in the Star Wars flicks. Melissa Leo shows up as a promiscuous waitress. It took me a while to realize that she played Kay on Homicide...the skilled female detective of questionable sexual orientation. I didn't find her really heating up the screen here, but it may have been the indelible creepiness of Kay etched in my brain.

All in all, definitely worth checking out. In honor of Joe Bob Briggs: one breast, some mild hand-to-hand combat that couldn't masquerade for kung-fu, one reeking corpse.