LONE STAR (1996) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: John Sayles
Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Kris Kristofferson,
Joe Morton, Ron Canada, Matthew McConaughey,
Clifton James, Miriam Colon, Frances McDormand
When a skeleton turns up in a shallow desert grave, together with a rusty sheriff's badge, a Masonic ring and the spent cartridge from a Colt 45, a bordertown lawman starts to investigate, uncovering four decades worth of buried secrets. John Sayles does "Touch of Evil" by way of "Rashomon" with a brilliantly conceived murder mystery that both defines and crosses the borders of geography, community and time. By following the story and its various threads where they logically lead, Sayles examines the town's complex multicultural relationships, sometimes coming close to soap opera, but always pulling back from the edge to keep it all on track. It's an inspired piece of storytelling, arguably Sayles' masterpiece, and you'll never appreciate how nasty Kris Kristofferson can be till you see him in this.
Elizabeth Peña
(1959-2014)
