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Perfect cast and a good story

An unexpected masterpiece

Blistering performances.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Three Libras in this film, all three in the leading roles: David Morse, Viggo Mortensen and Valeria Golino. All three very good actors. "Helped" by four more and better actors, Patricia Arquette, Sandy Dennis, Charles Bronson and Dennis Hopper. However, the film is long and boring. The 2 hours and 7 minutes would have been much better in a 7 minute short film, it would have been perfect like that. As long as Mr. Sean Penn wanted to be, you got nothing to do but pray to end faster. Sandy Dennis's latest film and one of Charles Bronson's latest films, both great great actors. Even a dozen cool songs from the soundtrack do not save the movie from boredom.

I've often argued with myself whether Sean Penn is a better actor or director, but the truth is he's just as captivating a storyteller whether on camera or behind it, and The Indian Runner is a bold testament to the latter, a somber, tragic family drama that leaves the viewer reeling with it's hard luck characters and sorrowful resolutions. Set in the heartlands sometime after the Viet Nam war, Penn's focus is on two brothers who have been at odds with each other years. David Morse's Joe is a farmer turned cop, an even tempered, recent family man with a loving wife (Valeria Golino, what ever happened to her?) and his shit firmly together. Viggo Mortensen's Frank is a volatile, hotheaded veteran, the little brother with a big chip on his shoulder, a fiery temper and wires crossed somewhere deep inside. From the get-go there's tension, and when Frank brings home a naive girl (Patricia Arquette) to start some semblance of a family, trouble really brews. There's hints from director Penn of his own internal turmoil, two wolves that roil against one another represented by the brothers onscreen, and the inevitable violence begotten from the hostile one. It's so strange seeing Mortensen in a role like this, miles removed from not only the stalwart Aragorn we're used to, but from anything else he has ever done in his choosy, sparse career. This is the role of a lifetime for any actor and it's the one he should be remembered for, a maladjusted outsider who rages against civility and can't be controlled, to his own demise and detriment. Morse is always a slow burner, and takes it laconically here, but there's a sadness that burns at the corners of his eyes which the actor exudes achingly well. Arquette captures the stars her character has in her eyes for Frank, and tragically lets them fall in disillusionment when she realizes he's not the man she thought she knew, a splendid arc for the actress to breathe life into. The brother's patriarch is played by a low key, heartbreaking Charles Bronson, probably the last role in which he actually gets to *act*, and not just play a tough guy. He's full of complexity and depth in his brief appearance here, and knocks it out of the park. Dennis Hopper has an extended cameo as an antagonistic bartender, and Benicio Del Toro is apparently somewhere in it as well as he's in the credits, but I honestly couldn't spot him anywhere. The film subtly tackles everything from implied PTSD to biblical references to near mythic aspirations built around a legend that explains the title, but more than anything it's about something as simple as can be: How circumstances shape human beings, how trauma affects us and the ways we interact with each other, what it means to exist and make choices. Penn's fascination with these themes is obvious, skilled and nears profundity in dedication to story and character. A brilliant piece in need of far more exposure than its ever gotten.

Way back in the nineteen-fifties, Neil Sedaka had a song – a hit song – that told how breaking up is hard to do. As I watched this film, for the first time recently, I wondered whether Sean Penn, the writer/director, had been humming that tune as he wrote the script. That's not meant to be a disparaging question, simply because all ideas have to have a genesis somewhere, and a song actually did inspire this story...Highway Patrol Man from Bruce Springsteen, so I'm told.Thinking about the theme however – redolent of the biblical clash between Cain and Abel, perhaps – I can't but feel that while Penn might have set out to make a fundamental statement about why some people do bad things, he ended up showing, instead, that a failure to come to terms with the world is merely an indication of immaturity, a failure to leave childhood behind. To that extent, the film succeeds, but it may have been unintentional.The story, as implied, is well recognized: a good brother (Joe, played by David Morse) – who is a cop – tries to help his younger and wild brother (Frank, played by Viggo Mortensen) overcome his inner demons upon his return from the Vietnam war, in 1963 or thereabouts. Despite all his efforts, Joe is unable to get Frank to change his anti-social behaviour. Eventually, there is a parting of the ways.What makes the film distinctive is, first, the very competent acting by Morse, Mortensen, Valeria Golino as Joe's wife, Maria, and Patricia Arquette as Dorothy, Frank's girlfriend. Second, Sandy Dennis and Charles Bronson appear briefly as the brothers' parents, with both older actors much subdued in their performances – as you might expect. Third, the setting is well located in some small towns in Iowa and Nebraska, providing the necessary backdrop for Frank's dislike of settling down into a job, something that he despises. Finally, the script is well-written and rings true for most of the time, I think; in a crucial bar scene between the brothers towards the end, however, when Frank finally explains the essence of his angst, it left this viewer somewhat perplexed. Joe's response is, in a nutshell: Get over it! Me too...Some of the back-story – done via old home movies – tells us that Frank was a bit of a hooligan anyway – and sometimes a violent one; a number of his actions, upon return from the war, bolster that viewpoint. So, psychologically, Frank is a bit of a muddle, but maybe that's Penn's point. And, although, there is no specific reference to the after-effects of Vietnam upon returning soldiers, I cannot help feeling there is an implied message that what happens in the story is not all Frank's fault. But, I could be wrong.However, just how the brothers come to part, finally, forms the multi-layered plot, with all the gruesome violence, coarse language and nudity – including a full frontal shot of Mortensen for maybe ten seconds. Not until half-way, does filmdom's favorite crazy, Dennis Hopper, appear as Caesar, a coarse, philosophizing bar-tender to whom Frank takes a dislike, with predictably violent results. And that action sets up the denouement for when Frank must leave: break away from his extended family and make his own way, on his own terms, in an increasingly violent world. In that sequence, Joe finally sees Frank as he really is: a little boy, with two toy guns, ready to fight all-comers. From that perspective, the allusion to The Indian Runner is overblown, because that implies a sense of lost times, a romantic past, an independence of spirit that was noble, more or less. In the context of Frank's psychology however, I think Penn stretched the metaphor way out of proportion to the reality of the action.Unless, of course, Penn's own philosophy is fundamentally nihilistic and hence much like Frank's...Technically, though, the film is well done, with excellent editing and special effects; add to that, a host of old country and western oldies on the sound track, perfectly in keeping with small town America.I very much admire Morse and Mortensen as actors, the latter reminding me of a young Jack Nicholson, while Morse has the size and demeanour of a young Martin Milner. Cinematically, they are a well matched pair for this story, with the physical disparities adding to the emotional and intellectual chasm that separates them forever. It's a sad story, yes, but there is, nevertheless, hope left behind as the tail-lights of Frank's car fade to black.Not recommended for children at all.

Sean Penn's debut as director/writer is a rather uneven affair that in the end does seem to have more good points than bad. It's the tale of two brothers--or rather of one brother and his family trying to deal with the other's antics. The plot is fairly simple, though rather obvious, and surprisingly accurate to the reality of antisocial personality disorder, whether that was consciously Penn's intention or not.The direction itself doesn't jump out to me as particularly good or bad, sitting somewhere in the mainstream middle, though at times it seemed that Penn was either confused or trying to do too much. The film opens with a hauntingly interesting visual car chase scene, but while it draws the viewer in very well, it seems so much like a thriller that when the character drama that follows ensues, that scene seems somehow out of place. There are a few other moments where Penn seems to create an ominous mood that seems not to fit with the film overall and the reason is never really explained. It is perhaps apt to compare this problem to Peter Weir's "The Last Wave," except that the ominous mood is so often there that it fits--even though the film isn't quite the thriller it wants to be.The script, meanwhile, is similarly slightly unfocused. Penn can't seem to decide whether Joe is going to be the audience's stand-in as we watch Frank or Joe is going to be a deeper character. When he and Frank discuss "burning" and Joe says, "I want to burn again" in his voice-over, we get the sense of there being more to him; but it never really comes through. Frank, meanwhile, is an obvious case of antisocial personality disorder. He's a wonderfully charismatic and likable guy but he also has major authority issues and insists on doing things that seem inexplicable to the average person. The story that follows is very obvious and easy to see coming every step of the way until the last second and there is a little more repetition of emotions and ideas than necessary, but it's still interesting. However, the opening never really gets explained. While we do get it mentioned a few times in the film, its importance is never really adequately explained and when it seems it will at the end, Penn doesn't explain it but rather pulls the rug out from under it. I also found it difficult to follow the brothers' conversations at times, as they seemed to be sharing inside jokes without letting us know what they are. While they do heighten the film's reality, these moments are certainly not enjoyable.What really saves this film from mediocrity is the acting. Viggo Mortensen stands out in a wonderful performance that is really a stretch for the slimy boyfriend of the horrible "Psycho" remake and "A Perfect Murder" who has made a name for himself as Aragorn in "The Lord of the Rings" films now. Mortensen has had a varied career, alternating from the aforementioned slimy roles to the aforementioned hero role to Satan in "The Prophecy" and even a dull, businessman-like deputy in "Young Guns II," and "The Indian Runner" is certainly part of that, as he gives a charismatic and interesting performance of a man who wants to be good and we can see it, but he just can't do it. Mortensen makes us identify with a character who is really difficult for most of us to identify with and brings him to life so that we can understand why those around him put up with him. The only other actor whose performance needs special mention is Charles Bronson, as the one-time tough guy uses very little screen time to create a perfect sad, lonely old man who feels like he has no purpose on earth--he was surprisingly excellent. David Morse meanwhile does what he can with a generally dull role that is never allowed to develop the complexities that seem possible, Patricia Arquette manages to be as child-like and annoying as possible, Dennis Hopper stands out as a somewhat bizarre presence but doesn't steal too much attention, and Valeria Golino is cute in a role that requires nothing else.One other point that I have to make is that much of the music in the film was terribly distracting. Like a few moments in David Lynch's "Lost Highway" and most of Cameron Crowe's "Vanilla Sky," some bad music and out of place music really reduced the enjoyment of the film as a whole.All told, "The Indian Runner" is a character drama, so don't look for excitement, but a very well-acted one. While at times Penn doesn't seem to know where he wants to focus, he doesn't completely lose the film and Viggo Mortensen's fantastic performance keeps us interested and entertained despite the repetitious and formulaic storyline. Don't watch it if you're tired, but if you want to see antisocial personality disorder in action or fine acting from Charles Bronson and Viggo Mortensen--two men now better known for their heroic, rather unemotional work--this film won't disappoint.