1996 / 135 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz

“Lone Star” is a subtle, well-crafted movie that takes its time with its characters and situations. If you want your drama and suspense to move quickly and rush forward, this is not the movie for you. If, however, you want a quiet, substantial and gripping drama that takes its time with its characters and situations and establishes it themes in a more realistic manner, then this is the movie for you.

“Lone Star” begins with a couple of men discovering a skeleton in the Texas desert. They alert the sheriff (Chris Cooper), a man who lingers under the shadow of his father: a lawman who gained so much respect during his tenure that a legend has grown around him. The sheriff is not overly fond of his father, for reasons that are slowly revealed to us as the film progresses. It is for this reason that he begins to suspect that his father (Matthew McConaughey) may have had a hand in the body’s disposal. Especially since the skeleton seems to belong to the man who was sheriff before his father (Kris Kristofferson).

“Lone Star” is mostly about the past coming back to haunt people. As many of the characters in “Magnolia” would have said: “We may be through with the past, but the past isn’t through with us”. This movie drives that point home better than “Magnolia” did. The movie focuses on several characters whose lives seem to intersect at various points during the film. It also seems that each of the characters was somehow affected by events surrounding the mysterious disappearance of the old sheriff (Kris Kristofferson). It also seems that there might be more than one suspect in the old man’s demise. He was, after all, not the sort of man who made a lot of friends. The way that the characters intersect is very well-done. More than anything, it just seems real. It just seems that these characters would have certain things in common, especially in a town as small as this one. Old relationships are revealed, wounds are mended, others are broken open again. Mysteries that have been unspoken of for years are suddenly in the limelight. And with each new relationship that is revealed, with it comes a new revelation and a new little twist to the plotwork. The plotting of this movie is so tender, so delicate, so carefully-maintained that it does not even seem to be the work of a screenwriter but rather seems the logical thread of events. It seems like the way things really work, rather than the way some screenwriter would have them work.

John Sayles has woven a delicate tapestry and done so with great care. The characters are given space to live in, given enough room to grow for us. And although it is all meticulously plotted and carefully sewn into a whole, it never reveals itself as such. There are some shocking moments and some startling revelations here, but none of them are forced. They are all allowed to take shape in their own time. Which is not to say that the movie is boring. Far from it. This is one of the more interesting mystery films that I have seen in quite a while.

Sayles directs with a steady hand and uses a sparse minimum of filmmaking tricks and gimmicks. The story speaks for itself, and it is compelling enough to do so. The film speaks volumes of race, color, family and the alienation that all can bring about and does so without ramming such ideas down our throat. And each and every performance is perfectly suited to the tale that is being told. What’s more, there is not a single moment that is anything less than thoroughly involving. It is as long as it must be to say what it has to say and not a minute longer.

“Lone Star” is a rare type of film and, therefore, that much more worthy of being seen and treasured.

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