Milk
Review
by Sean Lynch
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Milk
is one of those rare movies you walk into dreading and walk out of out
completely blown away by.
In
1977 Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of
Supervisors, becoming the first openly gay man to be voted into public
office in America.
And here I thought that crown was going to be given to Andy Dick...
Harvey's
victory was not just a victory for gay rights, but was enabled a forge
of coalitions (black, white, elderly, you name it) across the political
spectrum.
Milk,
which is already garnering sMilk : Latest Movies : Reviews : Entertainment : Webome serious Oscar buzz, charts
the last eight years of Harvey Milk's life.
While living in New York
City he turns 40. Soon he begins to look for more purpose, leading to
Harvey and his lover Scott
Smith (James Franco) relocate to San Francisco, where they found a
small business "Castro Cameras" in the heart of a working-class
neighborhood.
With his beloved Castro neighborhood and beautiful city
empowering him, Milk plunges head first into the choppy waters of
politics - bolstering his public profile with a good dose of humor and
humanity (something which seems absent from the outrageously
conservative politicians he battles against).
Gus Van Sant's Milk
achieves, in essence, what every film should be
capable of doing. Throwing an extremely confronting issue in front of a
left or right wing audience, challenging them and ultimately have them
cheering for the protagonist - not because of what they stand for, but because
they have the courage to stand for something.
And
it really is the case with this extraordinary film. I'll be the first
to admit that as a heterosexual man that the first half an hour or so
of the film is quite uncomfortable to sit through - if only because
most of us have grown up in a society where we are programmed from a
very early age to feel awkward when confronted by foreign ideas of
living when compared to our own.
But as the tale unravels, Van Sant somehow eases the audience into a
frame of mind which looks past the fact that Specoli from Fast Time At Ridgemont High and
the son of Spiderman's
The Green Goblin have just dry humped several times.
And what results feels almost like a political version of The Mighty Ducks.
The casting is superb, with Sean Penn's performance
(which seems like an oddly toned down version of his character
in I Am Sam)
a tour de force. Penn is just so charismatic, fun and likable - you can
really understand why Harvey Milk was able to have the type of impact
on society that he did.
Penn is bolstered by one of the finest
ensembles I've yet seen, with each and every character feeling totally
rounded and explored.
From Emile Hirsch, to the
stunning effort by Franco (the dude is amazing in this - anyone who can
make you believe there is a genuine chemistry between two real-life
heterosexual men deserves a gold statue) and yet another towering turn
from comeback kid Josh Brolin (the guy is on a roll) who delivers a
truly chilling performance.
In these heady political times, and in an
era that is about to dawn with Barack Obama, the story of Milk
seems so appropriate - and in a way, those ideals help push the emotion
of the "underdog campaigning for change" just that little bit further.
And that's where Van Sant has struck cinematic gold here, because he
presents Milk
in a way so that you're not so much cheering for the cause - but moreso
cheering for beauty of the human spirit.
It's
film that tackles some rather heavy subjects but ultimately thrives.
Informative, gripping, touchingly funny, uplifting - and just as
equally dark and heartbreaking - Milk
is not only one of the finest political biopics since JFK, but one of the
finest put to film thus far.
4.5 out
of 5
Milk
Australian release: 29th January,
2009
Official
Site: Milk
Cast: Sean Penn, James Franco,
Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch
Director: Gus Van Sant
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