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Mood:
- AtmosphericGloomyRoughContemplativeEmotionalThought Provoking
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Plot:
- ImmigrantsLone WolvesReluctant PartnersObsessive QuestVengeanceFriendshipKidnappingConfined more...
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Genres:
- DramaWestern
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Time/Period:
- Contemporary21st Century
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Place:
- MexicoLatin AmericaTexasUSAWilderness
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Praise:
- Award WinnerCritically Acclaimed
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Style:
- EpisodicTwists and Turns
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Attitudes:
- SeriousRealisticSlow
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Flag:
- Violent Content
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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, 2005
English, Spanish
USA, France
Profile of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
The mood of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is gloomy, atmospheric, and rough. The plot centers around reluctant partners, immigrants, and lone wolves. It is a drama and western movie. Stylistically, it is episodic and involves twists and turns. In approach, it is serious and realistic. The pacing is slow. It takes place, at least partly, in the wilderness. The setting is Texas, Mexico, and South America. It happens in contemporary times. It is known for being an award winner and critically acclaimed. Note that it includes violent content.
Summary of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Tommy Lee Jones takes his second turn in the director's chair with THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA, the follow-up to his 1995 western THE GOOD OLD BOYS. The action takes place on the border between West Texas and Northern Chihuahua in Mexico, which is a hot spot for illegal crossings. But Jones's movie ingeniously flips this dangerous yet all-too-common practice on its head, with a tale of a man hell-bent on crossing the border in the opposite direction.
The journey to Mexico begins when Pete Perkins (Jones) uncovers the identity of a Border Patrolman, Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), who has shot and killed his best friend, Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo). Kidnapping Norton and forcing him to dig up Estrada's body, Perkins straps the corpse to a horse, and informs Norton that he will be traveling with them to Mexico. Once there, they will bury Estrada according to instructions he gave Perkins prior to his death. Jones paints Norton as a mean-spirited individual; caught up in a loveless relationship with his wife, Lou Ann (January Jones), Norton's day job frequently involves him him either exploding in a violent rage or idly masturbating over a well-thumbed copy of Hustler. The two men don't exactly bond on their journey, the wedge that's been forced between them being far too great for them to reconcile their differences. But Jones coerces a riveting tale from Guillermo Arriaga script, with a choppy chronology reminiscent of Arriaga's own 21 GRAMS. Comparisons to Sam Peckinpah's masterfully bleak 1974 movie BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA are inevitable, although Jones's film has a tender edge that Peckinpah's nihilistic epic was never quite capable of reaching. A film that suggests Jones has a bright future ahead of him as a director, THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA is one of the most absorbing pieces of cinema to emerge in 2005.
Details
| Language: | English, Spanish |
| Country: | USA, France |
| Release date: | 14 December 2005 |
| Runtime: | 121 min |
Cast and Crew
as Mike Norton
as Melquiades Estrada
Photos
Clips
Critics Reviews
Washington Post
- |
- by: Stephen Hunter
Variety
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- by: Todd McCarthy
Users Reviews
- 20.March.2009
- |
- by: sethdellinger
- sethdellinger rated this movie
0/10
- 08.August.2008
- |
- by: fletcher.munson
- fletcher.munson rated this movie
9/10Amazing
