On the US side of the border between West Texas and Northern Chihuahua, Mexico, the illegal Mexican cowboy Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo) is accidentally shot and killed. His body is found in a hastily assembled desert grave by the local police, who bury Estrada’s corpse in the town’s cemetery. Upon learning of his close friend’s demise, Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) vows to bring the body back to Estrada’s family in the village of Jiménez, Mexico. After forcing Melquiades’ accidental murderer, the Border Patrolman Mike Norton (Barry Pepper), to unearth the corpse, Pete and his captive set out on a dangerous journey into Mexico, closely trailed by the police.

Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut is a calm and assured examination of how the Texan-Mexican border binds and separates two cultures, and it’s a strong tale of loyalty and redemption. It’s been quite a while since Jones has been in anything worthwhile (The Fugitive and Natural Born Killers are over ten years back, since then Jones has starred in shortlived movies such as Volcano, Men In Black I and II, US Marshalls, Rules of Engagement and Space Cowboys), and with The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada he finds back to his old form as an actor, and showcases Eastwood-like facettes as a director. Jones has a way of uncovering a peculiar charm in what is really a barren and sordid place, the loneliness and boredom is visually contrasted by a sense of freedom the vast expanses seem to offer.

It’s a joy to behold Jones’ acting performance. Pete Perkins is essentially a lonely man and borderline crazy (he never actually crosses the line, but he’s permanently close, and you can feel it), but he’s also a deeply loyal and committed friend. In this case, crazy and committed go hand-in-hand: Perkins has no more than a photograph and Meldquiades’ sketchy description of where Jiménez is located to find his deceased friend’s home on the back of a mule. Jones’ brings these characteristics across astonishingly, going back and forth between semi-detached and resolute and determined. The film’s other lead, Barry Pepper, delivers probably his best performance to date. The actor absolutely looks the part of the callous and egocentric Border Patrolman, and the way he handles his character’s incredible arc is credence to Pepper’s talent. The film spends quite an amount of time setting his character up as an asshole, only to have him completely brake down under the influence of Jones’ Pete Perkins and win over our sympathies in the end.

Despite never growing overly complex, the film offers enough room for its side characters and their individual quirks. Each of them has their own story arc, like the self-important Sherriff (Dwight Yoakam) who can never quite deliver and knows it, or the long-married waitress Rachel (Melissa Leo) who’s always up for flirts (and quite a bit more) with other men, but has ultimately accepted her role in the town and her life, or the blind American rancher (Levon Helm) living in Mexico who can’t understand any Spanish but loves listening to Mexican radio shows because of how nice the language sounds, or Norton’s once popular but still pretty wife Lou Ann (January Jones) who spends most of her day smoking in Rachel’s diner, contemplating if she’ll one day end up like the fat Texan lady living in the trailer across the street.

The first half of the film presented in a non-linear fashion, the main plot line is intertwined with flashbacks of Pete and Melquiades and side plots setting up the Norton’s and the other side characters. Important scenes like Meldquiades’ death are showed repeatedly but from different perspectives and with more context as more and more events that led up to the situation are uncovered. As soon as Pete and Mike’s journey opens the movie’s second half, the story masterfully focuses on them, mimicking Pete’s dedication in bringing his friend’s body to his wife. The film nears its end with a surprising plot twist that would crush or at least deterr others less determined, but Pete just keeps going and finds his own personal way to fullfill his promise and recover his happiness in a beautifully melancholic ending.

The Three Burials of Meldquiades Estrada is too low-profile and offbeat to rake in any big awards this film season, but thanks to Jones’ contemplative direction and a screenplay that will involuntarily make you laugh at absurd realities and cheer for its anti-heroes, it’s no less than a small jewel or a rough diamond glimmering somewhere in the desert sand, a warm and charming film.

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