Cannes Film Festival 2021 Day 5: Flag Day. Sean Penn’s still got it in Flag Day.
What the Critics say...
by Alexa DalbyFlag Day
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Flag Day
“Sean Penn … he’s still got it. He may have exasperated audiences with The Last Face, his previous directorial outing at Cannes, an earnest Western-aid-saviour drama that pretty much got him booed off the red carpet. But as an actor he’s still got the chops: a fierce masculine presence, a buzzard-like watchfulness always liable to break into a scornful grimace or lethal grin. His seductive address to the camera is almost unrivalled. Moreover, as a director, he knows how to bring the horsepower. And so it proves in this very watchable and well-made family drama…opposite his daughter Dylan who also does well as Vogel’s journalist daughter Jennifer…here are some pretty broad emotional strokes here and maybe a fair bit of grandstanding. But it’s made with some style.” – Guardian
“It’s suffused with what you might call the Penn Darkness Factor. Flag Day tells the story of the richly troubled, twisted, and touching relationship between a father, John Vogel, played by Penn as one of the most scurrilous dads in the history of movies, and his daughter, Jennifer, played by Penn’s own daughter, Dylan Penn, who gives a fantastic performance.” – Variety
Cannes Press Conference
