Flag Day

It all starts out as a thriller. Welcome to deep America, crossed by wheat fields and roads as far as the eye can see. On the screen, slow-motion sequences and saturated colors serve as an introduction. Not to mention the country music that makes the ears of corn undulate with its unavoidable beats. All of this smells like Ninety's imagery, itself impregnated with the dreamy Americana of the 60's cinema.

This universe Sean Penn, director and main actor of the film, knows it well. It is hard to ignore that there is something deeply personal in this Flag Day for the director of Into the Wild (2007) and The Pledge (2001). After the failure of The Last Face, the filmmaker probably wanted to return to a basic material that was familiar to him. His country on one side and the family on the other.

Behind this deceptively patriotic title lies a true story, a tale of extraordinary resilience that tells the chaotic journey of Jennifer Vogel, a brilliant journalist who spent her youth battling many demons, including a high-flying liar father, as cunning as he is pathetic. On paper, we find everything that makes the salt of the famous typically American stories.

Sean Penn saw no one else than his own daughter Dylan Penn (already seen in Elvis & Nixon in 2016) to play this tormented young woman who has tried all her life to put back on the right track an unrepentant crook.  A daring choice, but one that proves obvious as the young woman carries this character with ease and naturalness, in all the periods of her life. The chemistry between the father and daughter is even more beautiful and realistic on screen.

In spite of these assets, Flag Day has difficulty to embark the spectator on the length. This is probably due to the retro atmosphere, meticulously worked to fit the time of the facts but which seems too disconnected from current standards. But above all, the scenario, particularly loaded with psychodramas, ends up skimming over certain essential questions posed by the story. As a result, we are deprived of a real connection with these very nice characters. A pity.

Flag Day
Directed by Sean Penn
Screenplay by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Based on Flim-Flam Man: The True Story of My Father's Counterfeit Life by Jennifer Vogel
Produced by William Horberg, Jon Kilik, Fernando Sulichin
Starring Dylan Penn, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin
Cinematography : Daniel Moder
Edited by Valdís Óskarsdóttir, Michelle Tesoro
Music by Joseph Vitarelli
Production companies : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Conqueror Productions, Olive Hill Media, Wonderful Films
Distributed by United Artists Releasing
Release date : July 10, 2021 (Cannes), August 20, 2021 (United States)
Running time : 108 minutes

Seen on September 14, 2021 at Club 13

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