John Sayles has discovered the police procedural, and it's a perfect fit for his carefully interwoven storytelling. In Lone Star, Sayles presents a 40-year-old murder and a small-town sheriff (Chris Cooper) who really wants to believe his own father is the killer. What he goes through trying to prove it—and what he eventually finds out about the tiny border burg of Frontera, Texas—is the soul of a strange and thoughtful story, told in unhurried conversations and artful flashbacks. The things people keep from themselves are just as important to this mystery as the things they keep from each other, and that transforms Lone Star from a mere mystery into something much richer.
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