Lone Star

Year: 1996

Grade: B-

Country: USA

Director: Sayles

Review

a fine all around film. it’s well-layered and as such is probably good material for several viewings. more than anything it’s a good screenplay. all the characters and situations interact well with each other. themes of history (ethnic, national and personal) link all the characters and various storylines. acting is solid all-around, especially chris cooper and joe morton. as good as it is technically it just didn’t interest me all that much. the mystery was somewhat compelling, but seemed side-tracked at times because of the love story or the personal conflicts here and there. oh well. sayles did do some nice directorial things. the importance of the past was reinforced by showing flashbacks within a scene without cutting. a flashback might take place in a bar, for example, and we’d see the old version of the characters talking about the past and the camera would pan to the left and in would walk the younger version of that character. linking the past and the present seamlessly within the camera made more concrete the idea that the past and present are inextricably linked. the importance of the landscape was reinforced in many scenes where the camera would be focused on a cactus and would then shift to the characters, or a piece of landscape would be prominently featured in the foreground and the characters would be less prominent and in the mid-ground. well made.