lee_eisenberg

Sean Penn's directorial debut looks at two brothers in a small midwest town, both having taken opposite paths in life. Joe (David Morse) is a deputy sheriff with a troubled family life. Frank (Viggo Mortensen) is a Vietnam vet with no creed except cynicism. Eventually, everything has to come to a head.

Every movie directed by Sean Penn that I've seen has a gritty side, and this might be the grittiest. There are basically no truly "good" characters. I understand that the movie takes influence from John Cassavetes (to whom the credits pay tribute, along with Hal Ashby). Whatever the inspiration, it resulted in a fine piece of work, showing Sean Penn to be one of the best people in Hollywood. I guess that the only downside is the behind-the-scenes participation of Steve Bannon, years before he became one of the leaders of the alt-right. The rest of the cast includes Valeria Golino (of "Rain Man" and "Hot Shots!"), Patricia Arquette, Charles Bronson, Sandy Dennis (in her final role), Dennis Hopper, and a brief appearance by a young Benicio Del Toro.

I learned of "Day of Reckoning" when I learned of Charles Brabin and looked at his filmography. Now that I've seen it, I'm impressed. This look at a man sent to jail after dipping into his firm's finances to feed his wife's insatiable desire for material wealth doesn't let up (especially since it got released before the Hays Code). It's not a masterpiece, but the intense performances and stealthy direction drive everything. And make no mistake about it, Madge Evans, Una Merkel and Isabel Jewell were some real babes.

As for the songs, they were "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes" (used in "I Love to Singa") and "Tales from the Vienna Woods" (used in "A Corny Concerto").

I interpreted this Academy Award-nominated animated short as having the same basic gist as the 2021 miniseries "WandaVision": a lot of everything might be an illusion. Don't get me wrong: the landscape, structures and technology are real, but our lifestyles aren't necessarily so. "Big Little Lies" also dealt with this issue.

"An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It" isn't a great short, but it does force us to ask questions about what parts of our existence are set up for us so that we don't have to think about anything.