Movie Time

I liked The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada a lot. A fine film in fact. There were echoes of Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and nice little touches like the old blind man (played by Levon Helm) listening to Mexican radio, even though he can't understand it, and later a group of Mexicans watching a US soap on tv, even though they can't understand it.

There's a truly bizarre scene in a cantina, with a little girl playing an out of tune piano, while a tv blasts out a dubbed version of what looked like an old Flash Gordon serial.

The tv soap opera pops up in various other places in the movie. Turns out it's not a real tv show; Jones created it for the movie. Just one of many fine and subtle touches.

I'd like to think this signalled the beginning of a great directorial career for Jones.