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I wanted to like this film, directed by star Tommy Lee Jones, and it was a close thing, but I just couldn’t get into it. The emotions, the core of the film, were too laid back to connect with me. Also, the nearly arbitrary and often confusing sequencing of the scenes simply annoying rather than suspenseful or revealing. So -1 to Jones, who probably ought to stick either with acting or directing less complex scripts.
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is titled quite literally, concerning the three times a Mexican cowboy named Melquiades Estrada gets buried. Mixed in with them are scenes that explain who Estrada was, the quality of the man who killed him, and the trip Jones, the killer and the corpse take to get to the third one.
Decent acting by Melissa Leo as a married woman who also keeps warm with the Sheriff and Jones, Barry Pepper as the killer and Julio Cedillo as Estrada. Not so good are a completely listless January Jones as Pepper’s wife and Dwight Yoakum as the Sheriff.
not recommended
