It is difficult to explain why "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" didn't quite work out. All the good ingredients are present: Solid performances (especially by Tommy Lee Jones); original plot with a clever twist; and a professional direction (again, by Tommy Lee Jones). So what is the catch? Before answering the above question, I will recount TTBOME's story: Melquiades Estrada (Cedillo), an illegal immigrant working in a Texas ranch, is accidentally killed by Mike Norton (Pepper), a border patrol officer. As nobody saw the murder happen, and since the person involved was an illegal alien, the incompetent town sheriff (Yoakam) decides to bury the case. However, Pete (Tommy Lee Jones), a co-worker and close friend of Melquiades, does not intend to leave things that way: He kidnaps Norton, and forces him to unbury Melquiades' corpse, in order to help him take it to Melquiades' home town, and make a proper funeral service with Melquiades' family. They thus begin together their odd journey...
The problem with the above story is that although it is very unusual and original, it is also very implausible. It is very difficult for us to empathize with Jones' character: No matter how naive and committed to his friend he might have been, it is simply completely incredulous to watch him have Melquiades' corpse carried along as a companion. Several disgusting scenes result from this process, such as seeing Pete inject car fluid into Melquiades' mouth so that his corpse will not be eaten by ants, or watching him trying to comb the corpse's hair and getting half his scalp off. I really think that all this was rather unnecessary for the viewers to have, indeed...
Worse, the pace of the film is really frustrating. At the beginning, it rolls quite well. Then, somehow things get utterly stuck; and subsequently, it starts again to oscillate between normal and slow. All in all, it got me tired of watching.
I do believe that if TTBOME was produced through a different perspective, something quite interesting would come out of it. Unfortunately, in its present form it gets 4/10.
The problem with the above story is that although it is very unusual and original, it is also very implausible. It is very difficult for us to empathize with Jones' character: No matter how naive and committed to his friend he might have been, it is simply completely incredulous to watch him have Melquiades' corpse carried along as a companion. Several disgusting scenes result from this process, such as seeing Pete inject car fluid into Melquiades' mouth so that his corpse will not be eaten by ants, or watching him trying to comb the corpse's hair and getting half his scalp off. I really think that all this was rather unnecessary for the viewers to have, indeed...
Worse, the pace of the film is really frustrating. At the beginning, it rolls quite well. Then, somehow things get utterly stuck; and subsequently, it starts again to oscillate between normal and slow. All in all, it got me tired of watching.
I do believe that if TTBOME was produced through a different perspective, something quite interesting would come out of it. Unfortunately, in its present form it gets 4/10.