John Wayne continues to roll in his big and tall grave as the dismantling of the cowboy mythos continues with Tommy Lee Jones’ freaky yet boring “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.” (Or as it is sometimes known, “TheThree Naps of Asia Frey.”) Directed by and starring the interestingly worn face of Jones, this movie was written by Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote “21 Grams.” Like that vastly more compelling film, this one is a tale of personal justice and redemption.
When the titular pal of Jones’ rancher character, Pete, is killed, the local police take little notice. Estrada was an illegal immigrant, and the unfortunate perpetrator was a Border Patrol Guard (Barry Pepper.) Pete, however, is distraught over the death of his friend and sets out to make good on his promise to bury Estrada in the Mexican village where he was born.
To this purpose, Pete kidnaps Mike the guard (Pepper) and digs up Estrada. At this point, “Brokeback Mountain” meets “Weekend at Bernie’s,” as Jones lavishes the revoltingly decayed body of his friend with tender attentions that border (border only, mercifully) on the necrophiliac. If this is where the film earned its highly dubious description as a “dark comedy,” then someone at Netflix is gross and misguided.
I know it’s not cool to show too much explanation in movies and I know how important it is to be cool. However, I could not help wondering why Pete was so dedicated to delivering the body of Melquiades Estrada. He went from basically normal to basically crazy with no clue as to why, except for the death of his friend. There were lots of flashbacks of their friendship; I kept waiting for the one that explained Pete’s actions.
This was Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut and there was nothing wrong with that side of it; the scenery was lovely. The characters, however, were inexplicable. Perhaps that was the point? If so, I have to say, it was a dull point and the only reaction this film elicited was wincing, from the tortures inflicted on Mike, on the body of Melquiades Estrada and on the viewer.
“The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada” is currently available to rent.
“I Love Your Work” is one of the many unknown independent films I checked out on the strength of the cast. Although the results of this system are often disastrous, it paid off with this stylish insider look at the emotional travails of the movie industry, written and directed by actor Adam Goldberg and starring Giovanni Ribisi and Franke Potente (“Run, Lola, Run.”)
Ribisi plays Gray Evans, an actor struggling to keep his integrity and sanity in his image-obsessed line of work. He is haunted by visions of a completely different kind of life with another woman (Christina Ricci), but we never really know if these are dreams of the past or of what might have been. Again, it’s not cool to explain things.
Nevertheless, there is also a plot we get to follow, one in which Gray becomes increasingly paranoid a fan is trying to kill him. He also tries to get back to basics with a fledgling filmmaker, becoming obsessed with the young man and his girlfriend. Meanwhile, Potente is amusing and wry as his actress wife and their relationship is well written and nicely underplayed.
Good performances and a dreamy quality that is just mysterious enough make this film a success. It ends with a satisfying – rather than arbitrary – twist, a trick that is hard to pull off.
“I Love Your Work” is currently available to rent.
Contact Asia Frey at afrey@lagniappemobile.com.
Archives
The Reel World
