Review: Milk

Milk (2008)
starring: Sean Penn, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna
dir. Gus Van Sant


I have a few problems with this movie, but it still stands as one of my favorite of the year. It has energy and humor and a sense of the seventies that never feels false or cheesy. For that alone it deserves major kudos.

Sean Penn is great as Harvey Milk. I had worries after the seeing the trailer that it was going to be an over the top flamboyant performance that falls into caricature. It is anything but. Penn does show Milk's jois de vivre, but also captures his pathos and sincerity when dealing with his campaign or personal relationships. Personally I think it's his best performance since The Falcon and the Snowman, but I like name checking that film whenever I get the chance.

Josh Brolin is on a roll. His portrayal of Dan White shows a man who is out of step with the times. He is frustrated and angry and confused about who he is supposed to be. Is he a repressed homosexual as is suggested? He never gives any indication that he is or isn't. It's a balancing act that Brolin maneuvers brilliantly.

The other supporting actors are at the top of their game, with Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Diego Luna keeping Penn on his toes. Of these, Luna's character Jack fell a little flat for me. Since his relationship with Milk never really blossoms beyond emotional turmoil it feels incomplete. It's a minor quibble, but I did find myself detaching a bit every time Luna's character went into some jealous fit. Luna was great with what he was given, it was simply the character that's under written.

I'm a sucker for Gus Van Sant films and he does some amazing work here. Moving as far away from his minimalist films as you could imagine. There is an abundance of style and form that isn't flashy as much as it is fitting. One entire scene is shot reflected off of a whistle and drives home how defenseless the homosexual community was at that time. Van Sant is an incredibly confident filmmaker, moving between formats and shooting styles with ease. He never makes anything feel artificial and what could have been artifice comes off as authenticity.

Originally Van Sant wanted to shoot the entire movie in 16mm which would have made it feel like footage shot in the seventies. A great idea, but vetoed because the studio was unsure of the idea. A fair decision, but it would have been fascinating to see Van Sant's original vision.

A big story device centers around Proposition 6. It proposed that you could lose your job if it was discovered you were a homosexual. This is Milk's big fight and coming on the heels of California's Proposition 8 in this years election, it was incredibly poignant and timely. It does make you stop and think about how much progress we've made, or not, with equal rights.

I'm giving this film a lot of praise and I think it's worth it. There are some problems. A visual montage of phone calls being made to, "Get the word out," feels more like a cell phone commercial than a part of the movie and there are scenes where it feels like moments of characterization are missing, but these are small things in a film that flows so well and makes you feel like you're witnessing a part of history.

9.5 out of 10