Jennifer Vogel’s father John taught her so much about love and joy, but he also happened to be the most notorious counterfeiter in US history. Directed by Sean Penn, “Flag Day” stars Penn and his daughter Dylan Penn in an intimate family portrait of a young woman who struggles to rise above the wreckage of her past while reconciling the inescapable bond between a daughter and her father.

For in-depth thoughts on Flag Day, please see my colleague Michelle Arbir’s review from its original theatrical release here.

Video Quality

Flag Day comes to Blu-Ray in an AVC encoded transfer in 1.85:1 courtesy of MGM featuring soft, nostalgic cinematography from Daniel Moder. This presentation is quite good at replicating the gritty 16mm aesthetic and presenting it with great stability throughout. The lived-in look of the film translates well on disc with most shots looking very appealing. The camera captures some gorgeous landscapes that really come alive in high definition. Not only do the textural details render clearly, but the hues of the landscape leap off the screen while other earth tones render naturally. There are no major issues with compression artifacts or other digital nuisances outside a very minor bit in the darkest sections of the frame. Skin tones look natural throughout the runtime. This is a perfectly good presentation for this one.

Audio Quality

This disc comes equipped with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio presentation that accomplishes everything it sets out to do. Dialogue is presented crisp and clear without ever being overshadowed by any of the competing sonic elements. The sound design of this film is never pushed to the brink, but the utilization of environmental elements are executed adeptly. Sounds come through with accurate directionality from the more bustling scenes to the character-driven moments underlined by subtlety. The top-tier soundtrack brings enhanced emotion to this film. The low end is activated as an extension of certain exciting elements. This is never going to be a track you turn to if you want to show off your sound system, but it holds its own with what it needs to do. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Trailer: The two-and-a-half minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Flag Day is far from a poor effort from Sean Penn, but it does suffer from being overly familiar. The older Penn does a really good job of wearing multiple hats and executing all of his roles admirably, and the decision to bring his real-life daughter to build a more believable bridge emotionally was a wise one. In fact, no one misses a step when it comes to the performances. Where you start to encounter some shortcomings is within the narrative beats, which you have seen in hundreds of other “complicated family” stories. This leads to the movie feeling overly long and a bit sluggish in its pacing. You still get a bit emotional at times, but it never hits as hard as it is supposed to. MGM has released a Blu-Ray featuring a great A/V presentation but next to nothing in the way of special features. Your opinion on this one will likely boil down to how you feel about Sean Penn and stories about rocky family dynamics in general.

Flag Day can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or through various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: MGM has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.