The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada

Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cesar Cedillo) and Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) in The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

Herald rating: * * * *

This is the second of three films in this year's festival in which well-known actors make their directing debuts and it is to be hoped that the third, Steve Buscemi's excellent Lonesome Jim gets a general release sometime.

Tommy Lee Jones directs and plays the main character , in a contemporary western set in the borderlands between West Texas and the northeastern corner of Mexico. Pete Perkins (Jones) is a ranch foreman who values his ranch-hand, Estrada (Cedillo) and hides the fact that he is an illegal immigrant.

There's more than a little irony in that, since this is a town that belongs to the Border Patrol, specifically to Mike Norton (Pepper, who impressed as the Bible-quoting sharpshooter in Saving Private Ryan). Norton, who shows up with his bored and empty-headed wife, is plainly a man with problems and it won't be long before he crosses paths with Perkins.

To spell out exactly how that happens would be to spoil the surprise of the excellent script by Guillermo Arriaga, who wrote Amores Perros and 21 Grams. He has employed the same time-fractured style here in a screenplay created at Jones' request so the full truth of what happens comes into focus only slowly.

But the title is enough to tell you that Estrada comes to a sticky end. He is hurriedly interred by his killer, then again, officially, by the sheriff (an excellent Yoakam) who makes it plain he is not too keen on investigating the killing of a wetback. The third burial is the business of the film, as Perkins undertakes an epic journey to keep a promise that he had made to his ranch-hand.

Aided by the sublime work of cinematographer Chris Menges, who conjures dramatic shots out of the big skies and low roofs of the landscapes, Arriaga and Estrada have made a film of grandeur and almost mythic power. The film plays with elemental concepts - the importance of a decent burial (a Western standard); justice and revenge; coincidence; loyalty and betrayal - and it does so with a seeming effortlessness.

If at times it feels slightly schematic - Helm, the one-time drummer for The Band, as an old-timer in the desert, is a character who underlines a point that needed no emphasis - it's a small fault, though the sense remains that the writer never really found the ending he was looking for.

Mainly though, Jones is, as always, a pleasure to watch. His sly, generous and self-effacing performance evokes the same admiration that it has in everything he has done. It is a pleasure to spend two hours in his company.

Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio Cesar Cedillo, Melissa Leo, January Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Levon Helm
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Running time: 121 mins
Rating: M, offensive language and sexual references
Screening: Rialto
Verdict: Jones' debut as director is a cracking contemporary revenge western which locates in the sun-scorched badlands of West Texas a film of mythic power and epic grandeur