Last Flag Flying

In 2003, three former Vietnam War buddies (Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, Laurence Fishburne) reunite after 30 years to escort the remains of Carell’s son, killed in Iraq, to his resting place in New Hampshire. Directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Darryl Ponicsan (from Ponicsan’s novel) as a semi-sequel to Ponicsan’s novel The Last Detail and the 1973 movie made from it, this one has the turbulent mix of incisive drama and sardonic comedy that characterizes both the earlier movie and some of Linklater’s best pictures. The movie mulls over issues of friendship, patriotism, grief, family, guilt and memory; Linklater juggles the movie’s shifting moods expertly and draws moving, finely textured performances from his stars—especially Cranston and, in a touching cameo, Cicely Tyson. J.L.