Lone Star

 2/4

Starring: Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Pena, Kris Kristofferson, Ron Canada, Joe Morton, Miriam Colon, Matthew McConaughey

Rated R for Brief Language, Sex and Violence

John Sayles's "Lone Star" seeks to be more than a murder mystery.  So while the quest to solve the mystery of a long ago murder is ostensibly what the film is about, it's just the starting point.  Sayles is really interested in the people who, in one way or another, are touched by the murder and the buried secrets that are unearthed.

Charlie Wade (Kristofferson) was once the sheriff of Rio County.  He was a corrupt monster and a murderer.  Anyone who disobeyed him or got in his way was lucky to escape from his sight alive.  So when he disappeared, the town breathed a sigh of relief.  The only one to stand up to him was his underling, Buddy Deeds (McConaughey), who famously threatened to expose him (or kill him) if he didn't leave town.  Wade vanished without a trace soon after that.  Now, Buddy's son Sam (Cooper) is the sheriff,  and finds what may be Wade's skeleton.  Finding the truth is going to unearth a lot more than a killer.

Sayles tells this story as a sociological observer.  He is fascinated by the push and pull of emotions and motivations that occur in a small town that is a blend of races and cultures.  "Lone Star" explores how these people live, breathe and interact with each other, and if nothing else, his portrait of a town is interesting.  Ensemble movies are difficult to get right, but Sayles accomplishes this by focusing on the town and viewing everything as a subplot.

Unfortunately, this is also the film's Achille's heel.  Like all great observers, Sayles remains distant from his subjects, intent on only watching them.  He puts his characters at such a distance that it's hard to care about them.  Impossible, even.  "Lone Star" is a melodrama of sex, violence and scandal, but the director is so aloof from his the people involved that it becomes a standard order soap opera.

The performances are adequate, but Sayles keeps them so muzzled that few of the characters generate much in the way of emotion.  Chris Cooper must have a good working relationship with Sayles, as they have worked together a number of times.  But the energy and intensity that categorize his later work are largely absent here.  Sam is a man of few words who keeps his emotions inside of him.  Only his interaction with an old flame makes him come alive.  Elizabeth Pena is solid as Pilar, Sam's long ago love, although her range is stretched at times.  Kris Kristofferson steals scenes as a classic sadist who strikes fear into everyone he comes across.  Matthew McConaughey is only on screen for a few scenes, but he leaves an impression.

"Lone Star" feels amateurish.  Visually, the film is clinical and antiseptic like a TV movie, the sound is so bad that it seems as if the actors were wearing microphones on their shirts, and while I admit the editing tricks that Sayles uses to show the shifts back in time are cool, they feel like he's showing off.  The screenplay is at times artificial.  Sayles is trying too hard to be literate rather than emulating how people actually talk.

What I took from the film is a sincere effort to show a how a small town can be a melting pot of people and conflicts.  That's true, of course, but while this aspect of the film is interesting, not much else is.

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