Lone Star (1996)

IMDb plot summary: When the skeleton of his murdered predecessor is found, Sheriff Sam Deeds unearths many other long-buried secrets in his Texas border town.

Directed by John Sayles. Stars Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, and Stephen Mendillo.

Lone Star is an ensemble film centering mostly on Chris Cooper as the sheriff of a town in Texas. His father was also the sheriff and has become something of a town legend, but Cooper suspects that maybe there is a darker side to his father's legacy. We also follow subplots looking at the tension between white and Latino residents of the town, as well as a narrative about a group of African-American soldiers in a military base that's being dispersed. This truly is an ensemble film, and each piece of the ensemble is engaging in and of itself, though I don't know that I fully process the purpose of intertwining them specifically. This one is going to take a little bit more thinking about. It is a little depressing to be watching a film from 30 years ago where people are still angry about teaching the full picture of our country's history, such as when Americans took over places that they should not have. Those conversations have only intensified since '96, and it makes this film feels still deeply relevant and contemporary. There are some intriguing editing choices as well. The film jumps from story to story in almost an abrupt way, but it really helps keep the focus tightly on whatever we are looking at at the moment, and it's not until later that we start seeing how things work together. This is a film to sit with for me, and one that I think I will continue to appreciate the longer I sit with it, but I feel like any thoughts I'm giving now are very fresh and raw and might not be fully representative of what the film is.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 Lone Star (1996)

📊 Ranked #1305/4033 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 68

beat Mickey's Christmas Carol (#2007 → #2013)

lost to The Voices (#1001 → #1000)

beat The Wolf of Wall Street (#1507 → #1508)

beat World War Z (#1254 → #1253)

beat August Rush (#1129 → #1144)

lost to Witchfinder General (#1086 → #1037)

lost to 28 Days Later (#1098 → #307)

beat True Grit (#1114 → #1323)

beat Goosebumps (#1106 → #1326)

beat Akira (#1102 → #1313)

lost to The Death of Stalin (#1100 → #1099)

beat South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (held at #1101)