“Forget the Alamo,” says Elizabeth Peña’s Pilar Cruz at the end of John Sayles’s 1996 neo-western noir Lone Star. After the unexpected discovery of a body unravels the countless fictions propping up a Texas border town’s unstable status quo, Pilar’s defiant statement casts off the weight of mythology altogether. And yet, with that memorable bit of closing dialogue, the legend of Sayles’s film had only just begun.
As indicated by the film’s induction into the Criterion Collection, Lone Star isn’t something so easily cast aside or forgotten. Sayles’s sprawling film fuses western iconography with the thrilling structure of a noir-like mystery as Frontera’s sheriff, Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), probes the decades-old death of a man who once held his office. The investigation brings him into contact with an intergenerational and multiracial group of individuals who all have distinct reasons for putting up...
As indicated by the film’s induction into the Criterion Collection, Lone Star isn’t something so easily cast aside or forgotten. Sayles’s sprawling film fuses western iconography with the thrilling structure of a noir-like mystery as Frontera’s sheriff, Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), probes the decades-old death of a man who once held his office. The investigation brings him into contact with an intergenerational and multiracial group of individuals who all have distinct reasons for putting up...
- 1/22/2024
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
The term “literary” tends to be invoked to describe films with a grand narrative sweep, featuring a sizable cast and beholden to a dialogue-heavy script. A more holistic definition, though, might be one that highlights how the elements that make up a movie operate in such perfect harmony that they seem to flow from the same pen. On those terms, John Sayles’s Lone Star is among the most literary films ever made. Ostensibly a murder mystery set in a Texas border town, the 1996 neo-western blossoms into something far more complex: a reckoning with personal and historical skeletons that, true to the setting, are left exposed under harsh sunlight even as people struggle to hide them in the faintest sliver of shade.
The story sets into motion with the discovery of a skeleton belonging to Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), Frontera’s racist, corrupt sheriff during the 1960s, who ruled the...
The story sets into motion with the discovery of a skeleton belonging to Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), Frontera’s racist, corrupt sheriff during the 1960s, who ruled the...
- 1/22/2024
- by Jake Cole
- Slant Magazine
Criterion Collection cover for Lone Star; John SaylesPhoto: The Criterion Collection, Vivien Killilea (Getty Images for TCM)
John Sayles has been a fixture of American independent cinema for nearly 50 years. Like many indie filmmakers, Sayles began his career making monster movies before directing his microbudget debut, Return Of The Secaucus 7.
John Sayles has been a fixture of American independent cinema for nearly 50 years. Like many indie filmmakers, Sayles began his career making monster movies before directing his microbudget debut, Return Of The Secaucus 7.
- 1/16/2024
- by Matt Schimkowitz
- avclub.com
Gone are the days when Westerns ruled the box office, with superheroes now filling the role that cowboys once played in the American consciousness. But fear not, the Western genre is far from dead. The brutality of the American West, combined with the hope that many people found in it, continues to inspire some of the most exciting filmmakers working today. It also has one of the richest histories of any genre, which allows filmmakers with a passion for Hollywood history to engage with the classics of the 20th century while updating Western tropes for modern audiences. The genre is so versatile that Westerns can reflect almost any political sentiment, meaning that Western movies tend to be an interesting barometer of the era in which they were made.
In just the last few Oscar seasons, modern Westerns have repeatedly emerged as major contenders for Best Picture. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog...
In just the last few Oscar seasons, modern Westerns have repeatedly emerged as major contenders for Best Picture. Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog...
- 10/20/2023
- by Wilson Chapman and Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
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