The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada Reviews

Simply brilliant

This slow paced movie is instantly engaging. The texan/ mexican locations are beautifully captured and the direction allows the actors to breathe. The result is a visually beautiful, engaging drama that is often witty and keeps you fully intrigued throughout its duration. A masterclass in all things film.

If you go to Jimenez, Iswear your heart will break with so much beauty

I enjoyed this journey through one man's madness, obsession and promise to his friend and anothers realisation of the stupidity of his racism, misogyny and selfishness. Yes the begining is contrived and the ending leaves you wondering what happens next, but this is a much more interesting exploration of the ways in which men can love each other than Brokeback Mountain (and without the laughable sex scenes). The reviewers who hated this appear to have thought it was a John Wayne film or 'I know what you did last summer in Cancun'. Just read the synopsis before you watch any film, I am sure there are people who think Police Academy 27 was great, but I would know in advance that it wasn't a documentary about the NYPD. I may be a bit biased about the cross border relationship between the the US and Mexico as I have lived in both Texas and northern Mexico and understood a little of the background to the story.

Not dead and buried

Whoah were did this one spring up from.

A cowboy noir with a great cast and beautiful dialogue and scenery.

Basically the story of T-L-J keeping his promise and retruning his home for burial over the border in Mexico, with the added subplots - of new kids in town, the local floosy an inept sherriff.

Barry Pepper gives an inconstistent performance, at times great and at others shockingly bad, sex with his wife being an example of comically acting.

T-L-J has delivered a great little film with character depth and warmth, only disappointment was that there was no real closure between the sheriff and Pete.

A slow burner well worth a watch.

Great film they are top acters

This film is the Dogs well shot well acted and a joy to watch has a very real feel to it the young acter from Private Ryan is great in this strange but top notch Film must see

Slightly Overrated

I had great expectations about the movie but I was a bit disapoited when it finished. It has a number of ingredients for success (focus on a social problem, famous director) but clearly the director missed the trick: although the characters are all going through interesting personal lifes we never get to understand anyone's feelings, hence becoming a very cold and empty movie.

Seems like the director was trying to play the arthouse game but is still in his whanabe phase.

Enigmatic Western

A very odd and enigmatic western directed by Tommy Lee Jones.Set in modern times along the Texas/Mexican border Jones plays Pete, a morose and taciturn man who strikes up a friendship with Melequiades(a Mexican illegal immigrant) who gets shot dead in a mistaken shoot out with border guard Mike Norton(Barry Pepper).The local sherrif (Dwight Yokum) finds this out but does nothing as nobody cares about a dead Mexican.

Pete,however does and sets about justice in his own way.None of this is at first apparant as the first half of the film is told in a fragmented non-linear style where we see the consequences of events before the events themselves and sometimes from diffirent viewpoints.

If we expect Pete to simply revenge himself on Norton then he has other ideas - he has promised Mel that if anything happens to him he will see that he is returned to his family for burial in his Mexican village.

This means digging him up (as the local Texas authorities buried him in a paupers grave) and Pete forces Norton to accompany him (and the corpse) all the way to Mexico.

It does start to become a kind of chase movie but Jones(who has done so many of these) soon has us off in other directions dealing with loyality and the consequences of mens actions.

It has a wonderful Pekinpah feel to it with moments of grilsy humour thrown in with exellent performances all round.Pete's motives may appear pure(his promise to Mel) but as things progress you really begin to doubt his sanity......and it has an ending that makes you question a lot of what has gone before......Jones has refused to discuss the implications of the ending prefer to leave the enignma on screen.

As a film it does take a fair amount of patientience as the scructure is so fragmented and Jones takes his time with the films flow but if you are up for something diffirent and more than a little challenging then it comes reccomeded.

A poignant farewell to friendship

Three Burials is directed and shot in the style of American wave indi in that it is slow paced, character driven, plot intensive and poignant in narrative. Short of being 5 stars the film is a wonderful reminder of how well films that only require good acting and a strong script can out perform many big budgeted movies. Better than Brokeback Mountain the film encaptures friendship and lost love in subtle tones as opposed to stark images those are in your face or lead to think “I must feel this way”. The music is wonderfully handled in that there are no over the top melodies. Superbly directed by Tommy Lee Jones the film, although slow, never drags. The scene when a horse falls off a narrow pass is astonishing and unexpected making it all the more dramatic. The ambiguity of the ending and the supposed twist of it all is a brilliant idea. If you liked Unforgiven you may find time for this gem.

[Highly rated reviewer]

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Whatever you do, do not believe the critics on this one, it is mind-numbingly boring. It has no redeemable features whatsoever. Because of the critics reviews you are expecting a serious western such as Unforgiven, what you actually get is the most boring celluloid effort ever, can't think what Tommy Lee Jones was doing in this. Watching a Cricket test match is more exciting and that is saying something. Don't go near it

[Highly rated reviewer]

Would add drama to the list of genres

The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada is a film with a difference, a tale of friendship with several ongoing subplots about life, relationships and so on. The movie is set in the south of America and across the border into Mexico and follows the life of a Mexican man, Melquiades who crosses the border in search of work and is taken on by ranch hand Pete played effectively by director Tommy Lee Jones. The movie begins at a fast pace jumping from three different points in time that initially might slightly lose the viewer but this feeling does not last long as the primary plot and the subplots all come together and the tempo remains quick. By this time you may well have guessed exactly where the film is going and the pace slows dramatically but throughout this period the cinematography and acting remains top draw leading up to a slightly disappointing ending. In summary this is a really good film, the first hour is highly enjoyable and in spite of the pace slowing and the arguably abrupt ending the film should be enjoyed by most, I would add drama to the list of genres on reflection. 4 stars

NOT EVEN WORTH YOUR TIME!!!

Soooo very boring. After it was over my husband and I looked at each other and asked why, as in why we watched the whole movie!