The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Tommy Lee Jones (2005)
A Mexican illegal is shot dead by a hot headed young boarder
cop. His body is first laid to rest in a shallow grave; then gets moved to a state owned lot; before an old friend (Jones, who else?) decides it's time to
take him home.
Tommy Lee Jones' first foray behind the director's chair has
all the trappings that such a cross over can tend to bring. It's earnest to a tee; packed with perhaps a few too many ideas; and the tone changes inexplicably about halfway through .
Indeed, the faults are there for all to see, but The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada also manages to show the great experience of its director too.
The ideas might seem plentiful, as was mentioned above, but they're anything but flimsy. On top of that, the writing is slick and, through his excellent cast, it's well delivered; Mellisa Leo and Barry Pepper are particularly astute.
Jones just followed it up with The Homesman at Cannes this year, the same festival which awarded him best actor for this debut. The second feature is dignified and assured, and boasts a far greater focus than Three Burials could muster, but the earnestness is still there too.
Who knows, maybe the 67 year old will never quite shake it.
But then perhaps that's no bad thing.
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A Matter of Resistance
Jean-Paul Rappeneau (1966)
Catherine Deneuve must suffer a tricky love triangle between her Bourgeois husband and a soldier of the resistance in this slapstick comedy which casts a playful eye over rural France in the weeks leading up to D-Day.
A Hollywood leaning rom-com which still gets laughs almost a full half century later. A Matter of Resistance is not changing any games so to speak but then why should it have to? Indeed, while Godard and his mates were in Paris changing the cinematic landscape, director Jean-Paul Rappeneau hung out in Normandy, sticking to what he knew.
The ideas might seem plentiful, as was mentioned above, but they're anything but flimsy. On top of that, the writing is slick and, through his excellent cast, it's well delivered; Mellisa Leo and Barry Pepper are particularly astute.
Jones just followed it up with The Homesman at Cannes this year, the same festival which awarded him best actor for this debut. The second feature is dignified and assured, and boasts a far greater focus than Three Burials could muster, but the earnestness is still there too.
Who knows, maybe the 67 year old will never quite shake it.
But then perhaps that's no bad thing.
A Matter of Resistance
Jean-Paul Rappeneau (1966)
Catherine Deneuve must suffer a tricky love triangle between her Bourgeois husband and a soldier of the resistance in this slapstick comedy which casts a playful eye over rural France in the weeks leading up to D-Day.
A Hollywood leaning rom-com which still gets laughs almost a full half century later. A Matter of Resistance is not changing any games so to speak but then why should it have to? Indeed, while Godard and his mates were in Paris changing the cinematic landscape, director Jean-Paul Rappeneau hung out in Normandy, sticking to what he knew.
