It's clear from Amores Perros and 21 Grams that writer Guillermo Arriaga has a gift for telling stories which have a beginning, a middle and an end. Only not in that order.

Flashbacks and the writer's trademark themes of loss, grief and death form a key part of Three Burials too.

But in the gnarly hands of Tommy Lee Jones, Arriaga's penchant for time-hopping and emotional assault and battery is kept on a tight rein.

Melquiades Estrada (Cedillo) is dead when we meet him, shot in the gut and left in a shallow grave to provide lunch for a passing coyote.

When his body is brought in, neither Border Patrol nor police see fit to waste time investigating the death of a 'wet-back'.

But ranch-hand Pete Perkins (Jones) does give a damn. Melquiades was his friend and he's not about to let Sheriff Belmont (Dwight Yoakam) simply bury him and forget about it. So Pete starts to pry.

Like Belmont, Pete enjoys the sexual favours of married waitress Rachel (the admirable Melissa Leo), and it's through her that he finds out who killed his pal – a heavy-handed border patrolman called Norton (Pepper).

A newcomer from Cincinatti, Norton has a closer relationship with Hustler magazine than with his pretty wife Lou Ann (January Jones, American Wedding). Indeed, Melquiades' death is an unintentional result of Norton’s fondness for filth.

Pete once made a promise that if Melquiades died first, he would take his body back to Mexico and the family he left behind. And, whether the killing was intentional or not, Norton is going to help Pete keep his word.

Though it's a tale about friendship, this is no bonding trip. Even when a packhorse takes a spectacular plunge off a cliff, few words are exchanged and we learn little about the characters.

Pete is typical Jones. He could be crazy - burning the ants on Melquiades' head and filling his corpse with antifreeze to stop him going off are unusual displays of friendship – but mostly he's an enigma. As is the movie.

Some will find it satisfying, others, bum-numbing. But thanks to the leisurely pace, everyone can enjoy the scenery.

Elliott Noble