"the ants are eating your friend"

the three burials of malquiades estrada. in a moment of emotional distress i decided that i wanted to see this movie. i also decided that i wanted to try a new theatre (the academy theatre on stark & 78th) so off i went. about the movie: i heard a lot of good things about 'three burials' and i was uber curious to see the directorial debut of tommy lee jones. he's always been a favorite actor. i was not disappointed. a decidely non-linear plot takes four tries to get the story straight. (SEMI-SPOILER!) the story being the murder and subsequent attempts to bury malquiades estrada. the title character is a mexican immigrant hired by tommy lee jones' character to be a ranch hand. the two form a strong friendship complete with, of course, a day out with the town sluts (i don't use that word in a derogatory sense, they are two married women with pretty substantial roles). "mel"s death does some strange things to tommy's character as he sets about to fulfill his promise to bury melquiades in his home village of jiminez, mexico. the movie is a definite beautifully written (the same writer did 'amores perros') study of the american west, u.s. border patrol and the boundaries of friendship. boundary breaking/setting abound (uh, did i really type that?) in this great film. go see it. a.