A week ago I posted the trailer for this movie and on Sunday night my better half and I jumped on the 101 freeway up to the Scottsdale Art House Theater to check out Milk for ourselves. After the passing on November 4th of California's Proposition 8 which changed the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and denied gay couples the right to marry the release of this film couldn't have been more timely. The Milk in question is Gay Rights activist Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) who was the first openly gay public official to be elected in the state of California. The movie begins with Milk in New York before he has come out publicly when he meets future partner and then long-time friend Scott Smith, played so well by James Franco in his first major role of depth. We follow Harvey's career as he moves to the Castro district of San Francisco and starts a series of unsuccessful runs for public office before ultimately succeeding by winning the position of city supervisor in 1977.
The movie is incredibly well directed by Gus Van Sant who has recreated 1970s San Francisco in such detail and with such clarity that you truly forget you are watching a movie. There is also a strong supporting cast with a particularly good performance by Emile Hirsch as the street kid from Phoenix (hooray!) who ends up by Harvey's side all the way until the end. One weaker casting for me was Diego Luna playing Harvey's boyfriend Jack Lira, the character seemed overplayed and it was the only time during the movie I wasn't convinced by a 70's hair recreation .. to quote the B52's ... "What's that on your head ... A Wig?"
But you will have probably guessed already that the real star of this movie is Sean Penn who gives a performance that is as close as you can get to an automatic Oscar nomination. When I first saw Penn on screen as Milk I almost had to do a double take. He seemed to almost become the character physically, not just in gestures, accent and expressions but also in his lean physique. The transformation was startling and made a bold statement about how far he was willing to immerse himself in the role. The love scenes with Franco and Luna were pretty G rated but it was still more than the original script had called for and it was apparently Penn himself who felt there should be more intimacy shown between himself and Franco. Frankly though the love scenes were a side item as you become so engrossed in Milk's struggle to bring acceptance for California's gay community at a time when the likes of scary lady Anita Bryant were peddling their bigotry across the country (amusingly the stridently anti-gay Bryant got something of a comeuppance at a 1977 news conference when she was 'pied' during a news conference).
It has been some time since I have seen such a riveting performance from an actor (Heath Ledger was right up there in Dark Knight) and although I imagine many who see the movie will know little about Harvey Milk watching Penn was almost like you were witnessing the life of the man himself playout in front of you. It was a role that cements Penn's reputation as one of our generations greatest screen actors and while that may sound a little too 'James Lipton' it is true nonetheless.
In previous post I had said the movie looked sensational from the trailer alone and i can happily report I was right. Don't even think about it just go see it.
Rating: *****
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