Patricia Arquette Movie:

Editorial Review:
Sean Penn announced his retirement from acting, then wrote and directed this emotionally raw, somewhat sprawling film, suggested by Bruce Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman." David Morse is the title character, an upstanding citizen and peace officer who tries to help his troubled--and troublesome--brother (Viggo Mortensen), recently returned from Vietnam. The brother and his girlfriend (Patricia Arquette) have bad news written all over them--but Morse does what he can to be protector, to no avail. Penn, whose model was John Cassavetes, favors long scenes that draw intense emotions from his cast, which includes Charles Bronson (in an unusually low-key role), Sandy Dennis, and Valeria Golino. But it's as depressing as Springsteen's song. --Marshall Fine

The Indian Runner [Region 2] Reviews:
drama observed
2008-12-04 - What a great first attempt by Sean Penn. Viggo Mortensen and David Morse are wonderful (perfectly cast) as the brothers and their acting is so good you really feel the characters. These two, at this point, were under-rated and still showed their power as actors. Good job. Difficult movie at times, to watch, but well worth it.

"Highway Patrolman" comes to the screen
2008-09-18 - Joe (Morse) has been trying to do his best since he lost the farm. He's a cop now.

Frank (Mortenson) is a returning Vietnam vet, who was in trouble well before he went to war. The first thing that happens when he comes back is he robs Joe's wallet of $40, goes elsewhere and lands in jail for striking his girlfriend (Arquette).

When Joe invites Frank back to live with them, it's a recipe for disaster. This is a bleak, very real drama. It's well-acted on everyone's part, but a bit slow. Definitely an interesting period piece and character study. "Indian Runner" proves Sean Penn can direct as well as act.

Rebecca Kyle, September 2008



This Movie SUCKED!
2008-06-29 - It was as if Sean Penn watched "Blue Velvet", tried to be David Lynch and failed miserably. I can't believe people rated this dog positively. Watch "Blue Velvet" and "Wild At Heart" and then watch this piece of crap and tell me Sean Penn shouldn't stick to.....whatever it is he does besides directing movies. I would have given this abortion a C- in a high school film class.

Cop or veteran, guilt will not run away
2007-09-24 - It is a marvelous film for many reasons and it has many meaningful interpretations. The first we can think of is of course the effect of the Vietnam War on a normal man. It made him someone whose desire to kill, whose need to kill could never be controlled and dominated. Nothing could keep him within the limits of normalcy, that is to say a violence that is purely symbolical or superficial. His desire was not to punch a few noses and be done with it, but it was to kill, and I repeat that was a need for him to be satisfied in order to survive. The second line is that of the two brothers. One chose to be a cop and he killed legally. That's not in anyway easy, but at least you can come to terms with it: you saved your life from someone who wanted to kill you, and that was legal. You can wonder why he shot to kill, right in the heart, but he was entirely justified to shoot, so why not to kill? The other chose to go to Vietnam and there he killed but it was never to really save his life, never really justified because it was not self defense on his own turf but aggression in a foreign country, and the killing was not exactly shooting at combatants, but more often at women and children. This seems to prove that the desire to kill is in any man, good or bad, and that the only choice you have is to do it legally and morally or not. Vietnam produced twisted, distorted and completely warped personalities for whom killing had become a need, just like alcohol or smoking for others. This leads to a confrontation between the two brothers and the dilemma for the cop who has to arrest or shoot his own brother. He chose differently. The third line is metaphorical. The guilt the cop had built in himself after killing the young chap who was running away and then started to shoot at him can only come out, be retrieved and rehabilitated if in a way or another the need to kill is projected into someone else and that someone else is forced to go away. The guilt has to be entrusted to some Indian runner who will take it away as if it were a message he has to go dump in the ocean or the infinite. But this meaning is metaphorically symbolical of us all. We all have to get rid of this death instinct, and here comes the ending of the film. It is a dream society will let us go without making us pay for that death instinct. And the price is called guilt because we have to repress it and then it will go on lurking in our minds forever. There is no Indian runner for our death instinct, just a repressed guilt that may come out one day, but when and how no one knows.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


sad story/great acting
2007-01-03 - Everyone in this film from Charles bronson to Dennis Hopper turned in a stellar performance . Be prepared for a very dark story however.Viggo Mortensen and David Morse play brothers who took different paths in life and we watch as one is unable to save the other from himself & his demons.Viet Nam is an integral part of Mortensen's disintegration and it ain't pretty.It is very moving however.David Morse, a fine actor, has never been better.There is a full frontal nude shot of Viggo but there's nothing sexy about it.Sean Penn has given us a film that's a lot like him.Intense,deep,brilliant and unsettling.Perhaps it's "a message".