Regular Life

It occurs to me that I often write about things I do, but rarely about passive entertainment. This time, I’ll cover two movies I recently watched.

Both are westerns set on the Texas-Mexico border, and both are set in the present. Unlike most westerns I have seen, these are packed with emotion. The testosterone set need not worry, though; these films do not shy away from the brutality of the times, places, and people they cover.

(no spoilers)

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

I liked a lot of things about this movie, but it left me with one big question: are all Mexicans living near and/or trying to cross the border gentle and kind to strangers from the United States, even those who have severely wronged them? Watching this movie gave me that impression. The white American protagonist repeatedly encounters groups of Mexicans, and is accepted with open arms every time, no questions asked. One woman, understandably hesitant to help given the context, very quickly changes her mind and, like the others, can be considered a saint. In contrast, every white person is of questionable moral character, at best, except maybe the old man living alone in the desert. Now that guy adds a sad touch.

None of this worries me enough to keep me from enjoying the film, but I think it goes a little overboard with the sharp line between good and evil.

The acting is great all around. As usual, Dwight Yoakum does a great job as a slimy villain, evoking his role in Sling Blade, while Tommy Lee Jones is outstanding in a role quite unlike any other I’ve seen him play. His character possesses an unflagging sense of friendship, and expresses it in sometimes disturbing ways. Poignant scenes appear throughout, but the gradual piling on of frustrations seems palpable as we watch more worry lines form in Jones’ face (in HD!).

Lone Star

This is an intriguing film that features mystery and a little romance (which also has a twist). Chris Cooper, an underrated actor and one of my favorites, stars as a sheriff whose father (Matthew McConaghey) infamously held the same job in the small Texas border town. As in Three Burials, characters from both sides of the border interact in both everyday life and tense situations. Here, however, instead of painting with separate black and white brushes of morality, the filmmaker mixes the palette, giving us characters from various ethnic backgrounds that are neither all bad nor all good. Except maybe Kris Kristoffersen’s role. I find even less to like in his character here than I do in his acting.

The ancillary characters in both films are better developed than the leads in most Hollywood fare.

I watched both on one of the “free” HD channels that come with my DishNetwork HD package. The sand, the branches, the whiskers and the wrinkles all came through with stunning clarity, and the widescreen vistas invited me into their world.

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