two movies

[rone]

The Three Burials of Melquíades Estrada is a sad movie.  The plot twist hurts, but the ending is insufficient.  It leaves us hanging; there's no damn closure for Pete, the timing of Lou Ann's departure is puzzling, Mike succumbs to Stockholm Syndrome almost uselessly, and i have no idea why Belmont suddenly grew a conscience and fucked off.  One thing that came to mind as i was going to sleep was the symbology of the coyote as Coyote the Trickster; the coyote at the beginning leads the men to Estrada's corpse, the (same?) coyote indirectly causes Estrada's death, and later the other coyote helps Pete get into Mexico.  Tommy Lee Jones's Spanish is very good.

The Matador is entertaining, albeit gratuitously quirky in spots.  One thing i don't understand is why Julian says Danny owes him, if he didn't actually carry out Danny's request.  Danny owes him for the pep talk, so he's going to help him shoot some poor bastard?  Weird.  Are "assassin with a heart of gold" stories the counterpart to "hooker with a heart of gold" stories?

Comments

[kawgirl.livejournal.com]

I loved Matador for its quirkiness. And the fact Pierce Brosnan is in it, even his character is a complete sleeze ball, doesn't hurt. The twist was interesting. I think it's meant to show that sometimes you can help people most by not doing what they ask because sometimes people think they want something they will later regret. Anyway, that's what I thought...

[ilanarama.livejournal.com]

I loved Three Burials, although I agree the ending was a little odd.

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Well, remember that Julian's a psychopath, so in his twisted way of thinking, the act of preventing Danny from selling his soul was more significant than granting his request would have been. After all, murder's nothing to Julian, but the act of not murdering, motivated by a concern for the psychological well-being of another human being, well, that's something.

Now, why does Danny help him assassinate this guy? I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm guessing that Danny's come to the conclusion that everyone in Julian's world is already complicit in the business of murder and immorality; since this is utterly alien to Danny's world, he's able to compartmentalize this act as a favor in Wonderland, rather than as complicity murder in the real world.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a matter of the fact that he's already contemplated having someone killed for his personal benefit, and by taking that step, saving his friend's life by helping his friend kill someone is insignificant.

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

See, I found the ending very satisfying.

SPOILY McSPOILERS!

I don't think Mike succumbed to SS, so much as he did his own conscience, which was clearly troubled to begin with. He certainly wasn't stable before Mike got to him.

Also, plans like this rarely have proper closure, and I thought the failure of the quest to end in anything at all was perfect. It's Quixote, man.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the failure, but i want to know what happens with Pete. Complete breakdown? Sudden lucidity and remorse? Finding a job as a ranch hand in Mexico?

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Should have been:

"I don't think Pete succumbed..."

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Er, how does the captor succumb to Stockholm Syndrome?

[benchilada.livejournal.com]

Changed the wrong part:

"He certainly wasn't stable before Pete got to him."

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Heh. I figured that's what you meant.