Thin story of two small town brothers and their struggles over family honor. David Morse is the responsible, straight-laced cop and 'good brother'; Viggo Mortensen, the 'bad boy', is a former soldier and ex-convict. First-time writer-director Sean Penn seems to have modulated the performances here using the same Method he himself began with early in his acting career. While that's not entirely a negative, things do get awfully murky and turgid. The story also churns along using the same methodical process, slowing the pacing down to a crawl (ostensibly so we can catch every nuance and inflection). This approach might be fascinating if there were three-dimensional characters to care about, but photogenic Morse and Mortensen aren't really convincing as siblings. Worse, we expect more from prominently-billed veterans Charles Bronson and Sandy Dennis, who hardly get a chance to come through with anything interesting. The picture is balky with a wobbly narrative and confusing editing (always slanted to point up the artistic excesses). Penn's tricks with the camera show off a talented eye, yet they are more often an irritation. *1/2 from ****
Review of The Indian Runner
