Review of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) by Sean H — 08 Aug 2008

TOMMY Lee Jones has been a charismatic movie oddball for well over three decades. Now he's calling the shots behind the camera for the skewed, offbeat, very droll but basically humane The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada - or Three Burials, as it is also known. It's a fine directorial debut.

Jones plays ranch foreman Pete Perkins, who takes matters into his own hands when his close friend Melquiades (Julio Cesar Cedillo) is accidentally killed by racist border patrolman Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), now desperately trying to cover up his crime.

Pete, determined his pal shall have a proper burial in his Mexican hometown, takes Mike prisoner, forces him to dig up the body and go on a dangerous trek across the desert. On the way, they encounter many obstacles and - as the title suggests - Melquiades is buried again twice.

Despite some artily fractured chronology, this is a meandering but straightforward - at times predictable - tale, written by Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores perros and 21 Grams. It's also a bit too long.

What makes it memorable is its little details and its offbeat characters, vividly brought to life by a gifted cast. Particularly noteworthy are the criminally underrated Melissa Leo as Pete's hard-bitten waitress squeeze Rachel, Dwight Yoakam as a useless sheriff and - most alarmingly of all - Levon Helm, drummer with The Band, as a spectacularly mad old blind man. Fans of intelligent 1970s westerns will love it.