The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

Message Bookmarked
Bookmark Removed
Wow. This is really good.

sleep (sleep), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:08 (nineteen years ago) link

are you watching it now?

s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 19 December 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link

I heard the interview with Tommy Lee Jones last week and now I totally want to see that movie... it's not playing anywhere in San Francisco, was it released early this year or something?

andy ---, Monday, 19 December 2005 23:08 (nineteen years ago) link

From what I understand, they're currently doing a one week preview at the Sunshine in NY, which is where I saw it yesterday. Then it gets a wider release sometime early next year.

I hadn't heard anything about it before seeing it, but now I want to hear inverviews. Is this the one you're talking about andy?

sleep (sleep), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:31 (nineteen years ago) link

It is indeed... he's actually pretty likeable guy. I forgot he was in Love Story.

andy --, Monday, 19 December 2005 23:35 (nineteen years ago) link

man he's such a terrible actor, no range. Story sounds like some half-baked Cormac McCarthy shit.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:40 (nineteen years ago) link

i will see this.

gear (gear), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:46 (nineteen years ago) link

"Best Actor (Jones) and Best Screenplay, 2005 Cannes Film Festival"

Somebody disagrees with you. Maybe he's like Jerry Lewis over there.

andy --, Monday, 19 December 2005 23:57 (nineteen years ago) link

Chris Nolan to remake "The Disorderly Orderly" starring Tommy Lee Jones.

Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 19 December 2005 23:59 (nineteen years ago) link

two months pass...
Just saw it (it's at Shattuck or EMB andy), reminded me of a cross between Lone Star and Unforgiven.

The first burial is not explicit. There is some weird Raymond Carver-esque shit with the Mickey Mantle 61 guy's wife and the town floozy.

Weird anti-mercy-killing message to... hey Levon Helm!

That's all I'm gonna say right now, I'll be back though... Hey I'm Steve Shasta.

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 06:51 (eighteen years ago) link

Okay I got it:

Lonesome Dove meets Weekend At Bernies!

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 06:53 (eighteen years ago) link

Okay a few more warnings as the only spoiler I'll tell you is the lack of resolution:

The narrative is jumpy, so prepare yourself for a little suspension of chronology from the beginning.

There is a photograph in the movie, study it closely, you only get a couple askew glances at it.

If you speak Spanish, notice the difference in translations: "mi mujer" vs. "my wife", "mi hombre" vs. "my son", "rancheria" vs. "little town", etc. I think there is something at work there (just a theory).

There are nice little paeans to TLJ's career (even The Fujitive) peppered throughout.

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 07:12 (eighteen years ago) link

As to the quality of the acting, TLJ's accent changes throughout the movie as well as his ability to speak Spanish curiously disappears toward the end of the film... I was all like "wha?"

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 07:15 (eighteen years ago) link

I really want to see it, but I haven't found the time. Hopefully going this week.

Under the paving stones, Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Thursday, 23 February 2006 16:11 (eighteen years ago) link

You need to brush up on time management.

Steve

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 16:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I know!

Under the paving stones, Paul Scholes (nordicskilla), Thursday, 23 February 2006 17:39 (eighteen years ago) link

The Dwight Yoakam role was tailormade for Chris Cooper, it's just too bad.

Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 23 February 2006 18:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Good, but very strange. I can't pinpoint exactly what I liked about (except for the Melquiades/Pete bonding) or how the end even made sense, but I did. All the old people in the theater who saw 'Tommy Lee Jones' and Western came out extremely disappointed.

Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 27 February 2006 05:31 (eighteen years ago) link

i agree that this was weird. i guess that the "anti-mercy killing" part was to show that the Jones character wasnt really capable of violence? you kinda knew he would never kill barry pepper after that.

also strange motif of sexual deviance (impotence, adultery, pornography, bored wife) that i couldnt make sense of. america is full of "billboards" and is decadent and cant even get it up and get off a woman anymore?

question: did Melquiades sleep with the blonde wife or not? this seems important to me!

ryan (ryan), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 23:42 (eighteen years ago) link

Director's Statement

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a study of the emotional, psychological, spiritual and social implications of having an international border running through the middle of a culture.

We have used the narrative form of a journey wherein circumstances conspire to compel a hero to leave a mundane place and travel through various other places; some of them dangerous or life-threatening, some of them humorous, some of them mysterious, all of them arduous, until ultimately, he arrives at a good place where he knows who he is and how to gracefully relate to the world around him. It's a form that's been used for thousands of years, and it serves us well in this study of social contrasts and the mechanics of faith.

Some visual influences have been the Kabuki Theatre, the art of Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, and the films of Akira Kurosawa and Sam Peckinpah.

- Tommy Lee Jones


Screenwriter's Statement

Above everything The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is a story of friendship, a friendship that goes beyond borders, one that continues even after death. When Melquiades gives his most precious possession to Pete, it makes no sense at all...until you consider their friendship. When Pete risks his life to travel to Mexico, it makes no sense at all...until you consider his friendship with Melquiades.

This film was born out of friendship. When I first met Tommy Lee, it was not on a set or at a studio but in his home. He had seen a film I had scripted and called me in Mexico City and invited me up to Texas for dinner. All evening long we discussed my Mexico and his Texas and the ways they differ and the ways they are the same. It's a conversation we continued months later when he invited me to meet him again. Only this time is was at his ranch in West Texas, the one featured in the film. The first time I went out there I was his guest, but by my second trip I was his friend. On my third trip there we agreed to develop this idea we had into a movie. When we did so, we did it not just as filmmakers but as friends.

- Guillermo Arriaga

Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 28 February 2006 23:53 (eighteen years ago) link

three months pass...
this movie is great!

gear (gear), Sunday, 28 May 2006 01:26 (eighteen years ago) link

it's really funny in parts, too. lots of dark humor scattered throughout. and a nice ending.

gear (gear), Sunday, 28 May 2006 02:01 (eighteen years ago) link

I really wanted to see this

gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 28 May 2006 02:34 (eighteen years ago) link

obviously not enough, though

gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 28 May 2006 02:34 (eighteen years ago) link

and shakey mo is wronger than ever upthread

gear (gear), Sunday, 28 May 2006 20:20 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

man he's such a terrible actor, no range. Story sounds like some half-baked Cormac McCarthy shit.
-- Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, December 19, 2005 3:40 PM (2 years ago)

Shakey has vision!

Steve Shasta, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 21:15 (sixteen years ago) link

haha

Shakey Mo Collier, Wednesday, 2 April 2008 21:21 (sixteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

I saw it. It was aight. A little overwrought.

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:08 (sixteen years ago) link

Went on for fucking ever.

Tracer Hand, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:09 (sixteen years ago) link

Lonesome Dove meets Weekend At Bernies!

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, February 22, 2006 10:53 PM (2 years ago)

(*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・)   °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:10 (sixteen years ago) link

awesome flick

omar little, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:15 (sixteen years ago) link

i liked the length

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:19 (sixteen years ago) link

If the length was the only problem...

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:24 (sixteen years ago) link

i liked it

any major some dude will tell you (M@tt He1ges0n), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:27 (sixteen years ago) link

it has problems, but length is sorta the point

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:27 (sixteen years ago) link

i enjoyed this thoroughly

BIG HOOS enjoys a cold mindbeer (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:52 (sixteen years ago) link

If the length was the only problem...

What didn't you dig, Soto?

Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:55 (sixteen years ago) link

hey guys this movie was two hours long ... that's pretty standard these days

n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:55 (sixteen years ago) link

you kids all hopped up on mallomars and jujubees and pixie dust

n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:56 (sixteen years ago) link

but it sometimes feels arduous, which was kinda the idea

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:56 (sixteen years ago) link

Meh. What's-his-name the screenwriter loves coincidences and simultaneity and The Hand of Fate way too much for my taste, and Jones the director was too reverent.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link

you and your milk duds and swedish fish and jaffa cakes

n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:58 (sixteen years ago) link

you and your turkish delight and lady fingers and grape soda

n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Thursday, 20 November 2008 18:59 (sixteen years ago) link

mmm Turkish delight.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:03 (sixteen years ago) link

The Hand of Fate way too much for my taste

Fair enough. Are you a fan of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (which I find is in the same spiritual ballpark as this one)?

Kevin John Bozelka, Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:05 (sixteen years ago) link

What's-his-name the screenwriter loves coincidences and simultaneity and The Hand of Fate way too much for my taste

it's kinda appropriate to the subject matter

Jones the director was too reverent.

definitely

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:08 (sixteen years ago) link

Are you a fan of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (which I find is in the same spiritual ballpark as this one)?

There's a lot more pulp in the Peckinpah film. I didn't hate Melquiades Estrada; it just makes the same errors of lots of actor-director projects.

Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:11 (sixteen years ago) link

as a movie about a region, it makes the error of being influenced by the regional culture

gabbneb, Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:13 (sixteen years ago) link

search: the director's commentary on the DVD

(*゚ー゚)θ L(。・_・)   °~ヾ(・ε・ *) (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:16 (sixteen years ago) link

what is a spiritual ballpark

hyperspace situation (gbx), Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:18 (sixteen years ago) link

have you ever seen 'field of dreams'?

n/a is just more of a character....in a genre polluted by clones (n/a), Thursday, 20 November 2008 19:21 (sixteen years ago) link

one month passes...

this was great. I thank ILX for pointing me to it.

akm, Friday, 26 December 2008 14:43 (fifteen years ago) link


You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.