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Unjustly overlooked in cinemas, Tommy Lee Jones’ magnificent return to the directorial saddle, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, deserves discovery on DVD. When ornery rancher Pete Perkins (Jones) learns that an employee has been shot dead in error by a dozy border patrolman, Perkins kidnaps the accidental killer and forces him to lug the corpse to the dead man's desired resting place in Mexico.
Brimming with black comedy, the film crams the middle of nowhere with vitality. Even the peripheral characters have lives to lead. Jones is his usual rock-like presence, his face both rugged and porous with the possibility of emotion, but it's as a director that he makes his presence felt most, finding previously unseen qualities in his younger performers. As the lawman's beautiful, bored wife, January Jones is striking in a characterisation that rings entirely true.
Director Jones paired with scriptwriter Arriaga equals real balance: titles appear onscreen in English and Spanish, and the film treats Mexicans with the same sure-handedness and compassion it displays towards its American leads. More than just a Western, this is a beautifully composed snapshot of the whole border region.

 

Mike McCahill on 15th July 2006
View all 162 of Mike McCahill's reviews