Strong and Moving!

Let's be realistic.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Milk is a biography drama film that tells the story of Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist who became the United States' first openly gay elected official, up until his assassination by Dan fellow city supervisor Dan White on November 27, 1978. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant, and he does a really, really solid job. From the very opening of the film, it's clear what this film's intent is- to get you invested in Harvey's life, what happened to him, and the plight of the gay community in San Francisco at in the 1970's. This is all achieved, in quite a brilliant way. Harvey's political career was cut extremely short, as he didn't begin running for office until his forties and he was only city supervisor for eleven months, but his impact was felt. He was the leader of the movement that was taking place in San Francisco at the time. It is clear that Van Sant really does try to keep the film historically accurate, and it does not appear that there are any fabrications to the story, although it is clear to anyone with knowledge on Harvey and his life that some things have been cut out. The film opens with Harvey meeting Scott Smith, his longtime boyfriend, the night of his fortieth birthday, so anything that happened in his life before that point is not explored, although this really works to the films merit. The way this narrative is woven throughout the film is what makes it such a strong piece. In the beginning, it is explicitly said what is going to take place by the end of the film, so that the meat of the viewer's focus is brought to the events as they take place, and how we get to the eventual outcome. The performances here are fantastic, with Sean Penn's sincere and bubbly performance as Harvey Milk being one of the best of his career. His chemistry with James Franco as Scott Smith is also just fantastic. The people around Harvey, his political team and his friends, are incredibly likeable, interesting, and well acted. The story and time setting of this film is what really sells it. It is extremely engaging, very well thought out, and establishes an absolutely great symphony of different moods throughout its duration. The costume design and the way in which this movie is shot really establishes the time period of this film extraordinarily well. There's shots during scenes in which Harvey's giving speeches from a crowd, that are either shot from a crane overhead or from right in the crowd, which are incredibly engaging, and establish mood very well. There are a lot of very memorable scenes in this film that really compel the viewer to sympathize with the movement, and Harvey's dedication to being able to not just be gay, but openly gay in America. Harvey's occasional narration through tape recorder is a great technique to keep the story moving, and it adds great depth to his character. While the dialogue is pretty well written, every now and again it feels a little manufactured, with dialogue setting up the next event, but it's still very serviceable and not too distracting. It's not only a landmark in biography and LGBT film, but an important historical film as well. I absolutely love this film. 9.0/10

One thing can for sure be said about Milk (2008), and that is that Sean Penn turns in a masterful, beyond accurate performance. He portrays gay rights advocate Harvey Milk wonderfully. And James Franco is great here too, I absolutely loved him and his character in this film. The chemistry between Penn and Franco is believable and I for one really rooted for their relationship. Josh Brolin plays murderer Dan White very accurately, and I commend him on a great performance. Dustin Lance Black wrote a great award winning script that works so well for the film. And the love/romantic scenes between Milk and his lovers are well shot and tastefully done. The movie shows the ups and downs of milk's life and how he fought tooth and nail for LGBT rights in San Francisco, California, and ultimately across the United States. I do personally feel like the movie could have been just a little stronger overall, but I still feel like this was a great representation of Harvey Milk's remarkable life. Milk (2008) receives a 7/10.

Milk was a quite interesting and thought provoking movie overall. In my opinion, its best parts was the lack of cheap discrimination clichés and the solid performance of Sean Pean as Harvey Milk. I have to admit that I liked the persona of Harvey Milk and he would have definitely won my vote back in the 70's San Francisco. Nevertheless, this movie had a major flaw for me; the lack of a heart-touching soundtrack. Beautiful soundtracks can truly elevate a movie, and especially a drama. Unfortunately, this movie left me with no single memory of a melody. Another small that I would change would be a little more character development on secondary roles. But I am not the director anyways.. So all in all, nice topic, solid performances, nice touch avoiding cheap clichés but it did fail to inspire strong emotions. When I choose to watch a drama my ultimate and hidden hope is that I will need one roll of toilet paper to whip my tears off. Happened with Beautiful Mind, with American History X but not with Milk!

Sean Penn won a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar for portrayal of Harvey Milk, the first openly-gay man elected to public office, serving on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco circa 1978. One of Harvey's co-workers, Dan White (well-played by Josh Brolin) was disgruntled at Milk's progress and his embracing by fellow Board members, as well as by Mayor George Moscone. Moscone, who backed Harvey's ideals (not to mention his lifestyle, which White couldn't comprehend), was just as guilty in Dan White's eyes of destroying the fabric of the country as Milk, thus ending a colorful and riveting chapter in American history. Screenwriter Dustin Lance Black guides us carefully through Milk's early political ambitions and formation as a possible contender in the political arena, which was full of stop-and-start success. Milk's sexual escapades are softened a bit by the editing, with randy interludes and wild celebrations seen mostly in quick clips. Nevertheless, we get all we need from director Gus Van Sant's intuitive camera, which picks up little bits of character business on the fly, shaping the personalities on the screen. The large ensemble cast works at an incredibly high artistic level, while the masterful art direction and production design (with snippets of mid-1970s footage interspersed) put the audience right there on Market Street in the Castro. The narrative has been streamlined for dramatic purposes, yet is no less powerful for it, particularly to viewers unaware of Harvey Milk's pioneering achievements. ***1/2 from ****