It is time to treat yourself to a Maggie Betts film festival.

Don’t worry, it won’t take long; she’s only made two feature films. Watch “The Burial” on Prime Video, out Friday, Oct. 13, and then stream her first directorial effort, “Novitiate” (2017).

As you do, I want you to notice something: Both films feature notably good performances. Some of the actors, given the chance, are off-the-charts extraordinary, but every single performance in either film contains special and unexpected moments. At the same time, all the performances are in balance. Everyone is pulling in the same direction, advancing the story.

Do you think that kind of thing just happens? Do you think a blindfolded person can reach into a deck of cards and just happen to pull out four aces? And do you think that same blindfolded person could do that again? Alas, there are no unearned miracles in filmmaking, except for the miracle of talent. What you see at work in both films is a first-rate directorial intelligence.

That intelligence can be apparent in “The Burial” in seemingly simple moments, such as in the scene of two men talking on an airplane.Tommy Lee Jonesis the owner of a funeral home business, andJamie Foxxis a flashy lawyer representing him in a case against a huge corporation. The lawyer tells the story of how he first got interested in law, and Foxx’s storytelling is quietly dazzling. His thinking, his feeling and his spontaneity are so present and alive that, if you were keeping score, you’d have to wonder what Jones will have to do to keep from getting blown off the screen.

然后·福克斯问琼斯的性格为什么他冒着everything to sue a huge corporation. Jones answers with such heartfelt simplicity that it takes you right into this man’s mind and practically into his inner being. He says that the most important thing to him is to leave behind something for his children and grandchildren.

Now, just on the basis of the writing, that was always going to be a fairly good scene. But the depths of feeling and the sense of mutual respect between the two men are the products of actors working closely with a director. That beautifully calibrated exchange exemplifies the peculiar strength of “The Burial.”

Based on true events that took place in 1995, it stars Jones as Jeremiah O’Keefe, a 75-year-old businessman trying to prevent his eight funeral homes from being taken over by a funeral behemoth known as the Loewen Group. To that end, he hires Willie Gary (Foxx), a personal injury lawyer so flamboyant that he makes the late Johnnie Cochran look self-effacing.

What ensues is a satisfying courtroom drama.

In “The Burial,” every character gets a chance to shine, but not like in a “Star Trek” movie, where Sulu gets his moment and then Chekov. Rather, it all feels natural and organic. There’s something almost philosophical in a directorial point of view that understands that supporting and featured players are just as human as the main characters.

Mamoudou Athie (“Elemental,” “Black Box”),作为一个初级律师耶利米的团队a significant role, but one made more important by Betts’ willingness to track his reactions in scenes in which he mostly observes. We come to trust his responses to let us know what’s really going on.

In a similar way,Jurnee Smollett(“Spiderhead,” “Lovecraft Country”) as the hard-driving defense attorney and Bill Camp as Ray Loewen, Jeremiah’s corporate antagonist, have what might have been cliched roles. But Smollett gets to bring out touches of humor and irony that individuate her character, while Camp plays Ray as uniquely vile, someone who truly believes that there’s no higher power than money.

Betts’ “Novitiate” was a masterpiece, but it made under $600,000 at the box office. “The Burial” isn’t a masterpiece, and it was never meant to be. But what’s encouraging here is finding out that Betts can apply the same nuance and rigor to a work of popular entertainment and turn it into somethingalmostgreat. Actors should be climbing all over each other to work with her.

Reach Mick LaSalle: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com