{"id":365,"date":"2024-02-18T12:26:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-18T18:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/?p=365"},"modified":"2024-02-18T19:18:08","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T01:18:08","slug":"lone-star-borderlands-noir-at-its-most-mature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beaucoupkevin.com\/blog\/lone-star-borderlands-noir-at-its-most-mature\/","title":{"rendered":"“Lone Star” – Borderlands Noir at its Most Mature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wrote this introduction for The Mesilla Valley Film Society\u2019s screening of <\/em>Lone Star<\/strong><\/em> in February, 2023.<\/i> We screened the Coens’ Blood Simple<\/strong> in January, but I just kind of winged that one that night like a wild man.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I select a movie for this series, I sit down and watch it again with a notepad, making note of things I want to highlight in these introductions. It\u2019d been at least a decade since I\u2019d watched Lone Star<\/em> but as a Blockbuster manager in the late 90s, I\u2019d seen it at least a half-dozen times when it was new to the shelves, so I felt pretty good about being able to take notes while watching the movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, this time, there\u2019s three short bullet points\u00a0 and then the rest of the page is blank. That\u2019s a testament to how well this picture grabs your attention and doesn’t let it go, even if you’ve seen it before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Elizabeth
Elizabeth Pe\u00f1a as Pilar and Chris Cooper as Sam.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sayles attended the same cinematic bootcamp as luminaries like Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola and James Cameron: he worked for Roger Corman. He wrote the Joe Dante-directed Piranha <\/em>and Lewis Teague\u2019s The Lady In Red<\/em> as a way to fund his first feature, The Return of The Secaucus Seven<\/em>, and would continue this pattern over the next few years. He\u2019d script Alligator<\/a><\/em>, Battle Beyond The Stars<\/a><\/em>, The Howling<\/em> <\/a>and others to get to make his breakthrough The Brother From Another Planet<\/a><\/em> and from there, his path was set. That leads us to where we are tonight, Sayle’s tenth feature, Lone Star<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the textbook definition of a rich<\/strong> film. It touches on a lot of subjects, many of which will be naggingly familiar in 2024, while its central mystery \u2014 What happened to Kris Kristofferson\u2019s Sheriff Charlie Wade, and how was Matthew McConaughey\u2019s Buddy Deeds involved?  \u2014 unspools at a deliberate but never boring pace.  With help from some clever in-camera editing and a script that knows exactly when to reveal what, the audience learns about all the connections and buried secrets in Rio County\u2019s past alongside Buddy\u2019s son Sam, now sheriff himself (played by the always-terrific Chris Cooper).  It\u2019s a mature film, to say the least, one that the audience can enjoy more as they also experience things like long-lost love, broken families, and marriages that don\u2019t work out for whatever reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Matthew McConaughey as Buddy Deeds; Kris Kristofferson as Charlie Wade <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Everyone loves trivia, so here\u2019s some:<\/p>\n\n\n\n