The Indian Runner (1991)

Directed by Sean Penn. Starring David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, Valeria Golino, Patricia Arquette, Charles Bronson, Dennis Hopper, Sandy Dennis, Jordan Rhodes. [R]

In his directorial debut, Penn adeptly uses setting and atmosphere to detail both the physical and emotional climate of 1960s Nebraska in this moody rumination of two brothers, one an upright small-town deputy sheriff (Morse) and the other a restless veteran who’s almost always in trouble with the law (Mortensen). The characters are sharply-defined, but the film dawdles too much to work as a brand of searing entertainment, and the psychological study of the duality of man and brotherly division is all too familiar. The arty and metaphorical touches, mostly relegated to the last fifteen minutes, are too awkward to work as well. Solid lead performances, plus a supporting role for Bronson as the young men’s father that’s probably the actor’s surest piece of acting in well over a decade. Penn says that he based the screenplay on a Bruce Springsteen song (“Highway Patrolman”), although the song does not appear in the film. Look for Benicio del Toro in a bit part.

63/100