Review of Milk (1999) by Adam G — 29 Nov 2011

Since "Milk" first started getting a little buzz this past summer as it was shown in a few "Fall Movie Preview" article's in various entertainment magazine's caught my attention with Penn in the lead role and Van Sant directing. I didn't quite know what it was about, but when I saw a trailer had arrived I made sure to go ahead and watch it. When I did I could tell it was going to be one of the best movies this Oscar season and it did not dissapoint in that respect at all.

Gus Van Sant probably had his most loved film when "Good Will Hunting" came out, which launched the careers of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck with their brilliant, oscar winning screenplay, and their solid portrayls of the main characters in the film. While I don't see all that much similarity in the actual style of the filmmaking between the two movies, you can see many similarities in the way his character's are handled. Many moments in both films are shown and told with a great amount of realism. While both stories could've been very cheesy and corny, Van Sant somehow makes any of that possible corniness believable and likeable at the same time. At least, believable enough to stay connected to the story being told by the film. I can say that this is Van Sant's return to form. It's his best film since "Good Will Hunting" and it will almost certainly earn him an oscar nomination for his direction. He directs it tenderly and tells his story very effectively. I saw this as a fairly honest bio-pic about a man that really believed in something and helped to bring our conservative country closer to tolerance of the gay community (which we obviously still have not reached).

This film can also easily be compared to "Elephant", which was a fictional story done in a realistic fashion about a Columbine like school shooting. This is because a decent portion of "Milk" centers on Dan White's downward spiral into finally bottoming out. His character arch is handled well, and it's entirely predictable and believable that he would've done what he did just looking at the events in the film. This is a great example of a part of the film where the real events are translated very well.

As I previously mentioned Sean Penn takes the title role of Harvey Milk. Harvey is a very smart businessman and entrepreneur who knows how to turn situations around to be in his favor. His character finally starts living his life for real, and he really accomplishes some great things. Harvey Milk is a man that celebrated life. Penn does a great job and handles the character with much care. You can tell Penn spent a lot of time getting all of the mannerisms close to exact as well as getting comfortable kissing various men of the same sex. I'm sure he was not used to doing this, and he has to do it many times throughout this film. Penn has always been an oscar favorite so it's very believable, if not realistic, to think that Penn will, at the very least, be on the ballot for the 5th time come this February. I think he has a shot at winning his second academy award.

Josh Brolin plays the tragic character of Dan White with the proper amount of brutish mannerisms. He doesn't really understand the world around him, constantly not knowing how to handle different situations. His disconnect is unfortunate, but Brolin plays the character believably. If he gets nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this film, he's the most worthy out of all the supporting cast. Emile Hirsch does a decent job as Harvey's enthusiastic event coordinator, Cleve Jones. He knows how to get people to come in droves to one place. I don't really know why he's been getting some oscar buzz for this role. I think if anything Brolin and Franco play more interesting characters than he does. Still a solid performance. James Franco plays Harvey's boyfriend for much of the film, Scott Smith. He is Harvey's true love through the movie's entirity. From the time Harvey meets him, at the beginning, to the time of his imminent death (that you are aware of within the first 5 minutes of the opening title's). Diego Luna does a good job and believably portrays one of Harvey's flings that he has as he's getting elected and while he's in office. He reminded me most of an absolutely insane, high maintenence girl friend, just applied to an effeminate latino man.

The one thing I thought was so unbelievably interesting was the film's absolute relevance to right now. It's as if the filmmakers knew that prop 8 wasn't going to pass, or even that it was going to be on the ballot back when the film was first put into production. There's a large portion of the film devoted to making sure a proposition that would've revoked many rights from gay's across the state of California, prop 6 in 1978, didn't pass. It was really fascinating to see that the opposition to gay rights was using the same illogical, non-sensical arguments then as they're constantly making now. The disconnect and the void of fear between the fundamentalist christian community and the gay community is illustrated poignantly and accurately in "Milk".

The comparisons between "Milk" and "Brokeback Mountain" are inevitable and unavoidable. Both films got large amounts of Oscar buzz for their respective years, had high profile casts, and were of coruse large productions about the gay community (not to mention they were both distributed by Universal's indie label, one of the few that continues to be successful, Focus Features). However they are quite different at heart. "Brokeback Mountain" was an aggressive, rugged, and controversial film about forbidden love, and people afraid of being themselves in order to follow societal conventions. "Milk" is first off non-fiction, and secondly it really is a more tenderly handled film about the gay community that shows a lot of affection rather than raw aggression. While this is obviously a controversial film that is an important additon in the art field to the gay community, it really serves it's purpose as a good bio-pic in it's own right. It has a very well constructed and focused screenplay, effective direction, and a fantastic ensemble cast.

"Milk" is one of the very finest films this year, and with the talent it had pushing it along this is entirely logical, if not expected. The subject matter is not only controversial and relevant, but extremely important as well. It will likely be up for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (for one of the supporting roles), Best Director, and Best Picture. All of the character's in the film seem very believable and human. Even the "bad guys" are handled with care, as the film is very cautious not to demonize anyone, just as it seemed "Milk" never truly hated anyone. He, like the audience, was angry at people simply because they used their influence to make comments that were uninformed and, in most cases, completely ridiculous. Rather than wanting to kill these hateful bigots as many of the bigots no doubt wanted to kill him, Harvey Milk seemed to take pity on them, and always tried to empathize, and understand exactly why they never took the time to truly understand him, and why they were really so afraid of homosexuality. This film serves it's purpose of promoting equality and tolerance well, and it manages to stand alone as an entertaining and insightful look into the recent past to learn lessons that can help us be a better country in the present.

9.5/10.