Flag Day – Movie Review
Director: Sean Penn
Writer: Jez Butterworth, John Henry Butterworth (Screenplay)
Writer: Jennifer Vogel (Book)
Cast
- Sean Penn (Mystic River)
- Dylan Penn (Elvis & Nixon)
- Regina King (The Harder They Fall)
- Katheryn Winnick (The Dark Tower)
Plot: A father lives a double life as a counterfeiter, bank robber and con man in order to provide for his daughter.
Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Flag Day starts as Jennifer (Dylan Penn) finds her life confusing, as her relationship with her father John (Sean Penn) has always been distant. She lived with her mother Patty (Winnick), but things started getting out of control at home. Jennifer goes in search of her father, never knowing what he did for a living.
As Jennifer looks to help her father, she finds herself struggling to get through the difficult situation. This sees them needing to work together to try and solve their demons if they are ever going to have a relationship going forward.
Verdict on Flag Day
Flag Day is a crime drama following a daughter trying to rebuild her relationship with her father. However, his addictions and secret continue to build walls between their relationship. This leads them down a dangerous path, as Jennifer doesn’t know where her future might end up going.
The movie does want to put a firm focus on the broken relationship between father and daughter. However, it doesn’t seem to offer much in a redemption story. It shows us how the end of his story happens in the opening sequence and the constant mistrust created between the two. We end up getting let down after let down, leading us to wonder where the bigger story is here.
Final Thoughts –Flag Day is a slow-moving drama that doesn’t seem to go very far.