Special Events

2005, directed by Tommy Lee Jones, 121 minutes.

Tuesday, May 22, 6:30pm

Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, a pillar of the new Mexican cinema, wrote the scripts for director Alejandro González Iñárritu's highly fragmented, melodramatic films - Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel - as well as this quirky gem picked up by Tommy Lee Jones to direct and star in. The man of the title, Melquiades Estrada, is a ranch hand in Texas who is accidentally murdered by a cocky border patrol officer (Barry Pepper). When the officer tries to cover up his mistake, an American friend of Estrada's (Jones) won't stand for it. He kidnaps the officer, forces him to disinter Estrada's body, and drags them both into Mexico to find the dead man's home and bury him properly. Their journey from sun-baked Texas to the isolated villages of Mexico is punctuated with slightly surreal encounters, and the kidnapped officer, humbled by the realization of his moral transgression, eventually forms an understanding with his captor. It's a beautifully told yarn, peppered with tough-skinned women (January Jones and Melissa Leo) and wistful sentiments, and as its first-time director and grizzled star, Tommy Lee Jones is nothing short of superb.