Jones' directorial debut a masterpiece

Open upon a town right on the border of Texas and Mexico. Nothing much ever happens here aside from the daily affairs of the Border Patrol, whose job it is to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing into America. Somehow, a man named Melquiades Estrada (a paranoid but content Julio Cedillo) crosses that border and with it comes a warm friendship and ranching job from Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones looking old and weathered). \nMike Norton (a bitter Barry Pepper) and his wife Lou Ann (January Jones) are new to town -- freshly settled in their cozy trailer where she spends her days smoking Virginia Slims while her husband is out abusing his title. Norton finds a group of Mexicans and ferociously jumps the gun, beating one man while breaking the nose of the woman who accompanies him. This is how Norton conducts business. One day, by accident, he manages to kill Melquiades Estrada, thus forcing a now depressed yet furious Perkins to kidnap Norton, dig up Melquiades' body and cross back into Mexico where he rightfully deserves to be buried. \nShowered with honors at the Cannes Film Festival last year, "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" sadly never gained much momentum when it came time to awards here in the United States. All that doesn't matter though, for Jones' directorial debut is a modern-day Western masterpiece. For a man soon to be 60 years old, he should've been behind the camera at half his age. Perhaps coming so late into the game though, he's had plenty of time to gather his influences, of which there are many. The visual scope of John Ford, the unbridled attitude of Sergio Leone and the bold revisionism of Sam Peckinpah -- Jones is an amalgamate of all three.\nJust as Jones channels the big three, so does his crew. Cinematographer Chris Menges must have watched countless Ford westerns to get a feel for the rough yet beautiful landscape of the Southwest. Marco Beltrami's score is hauntingly reminiscent of Ennio Morricone's own used in Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." And as for screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, his story is as powerful and redemptive as Peckinpah's "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia." \nIf you're expecting tons of action, go watch "The Wild Bunch." Need a western that flies by in no time? Watch "High Noon." I'm a fan of both, but "Three Burials" is slow and drawn out like the journey these men must make. At the end of this journey is purification and, with the end of the film, Jones' greatest accomplishment.