Milk (Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna) – An amazingly studied and exacting performance powers this biopic of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in any major city in America. 1970s’ San Francisco is the setting for this true story about a man with a vision that extended beyond his sexual preference but whose legacy is defined by it. Milk was a moderately successful businessman who lived and worked in the Castro section of San Francisco, which became the center of the gay community during the City by the Bay’s true coming out. After unsuccessful attempts to run for a city supervisor position and even one to join the California General Assembly, Milk finally was elected in part due to redistricting that put the Castro and liberal Haight areas together. Milk was a master politician who wasn’t afraid to display his gay lifestyle while working hard for the city.
Director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) presents this film in a grainy, documentary style, allowing him to intersperse actual footage of the 1970s while giving the movie an authentic newsreel look. To say that Sean Penn, who absolutely inhabits the Milk character, is incredible in this film is to understate the performance. A certain Oscar nominee, Penn is one of America’s best, pickiest and most temperamental actors. The four-time Oscar nominee, who won for Mystic River, allows himself to be vulnerable and to look natural even in his romantic scenes with two men, played exceptionally well by James Franco and Diego Luna. His willingness to tackle this role and present it so vividly speaks to his bravery as an actor. He has tackled biopics before, most recently in All the King’s Men.
The rest of the cast is exceptional, too, with Josh Brolin particularly good as fellow Supervisor Dan White, Milk’s conservative, insecure and troubled adversary. Brolin starred in last year’s Oscar winning Best Picture, No Country for Old Men, as well as this year’s W., garnering critical acclaim and moving to the upper echelon of Hollywood. James Franco, whose film choices are varied and eclectic, certainly moves 180 degrees from his turn in the reefer comedy, The Pineapple Express, not to mention his smaller , more traditional role in the awful Nights in Rodanthe. That’s three pics in one year for Franco. Here, he plays Milk’s true love, who meets him before he is famous and who can’t live with the political world of his partner.
I’m not sure the movie or the director will be nominated for Oscars, but I am sure Penn will be for his unpasteurized bravura performance as Milk.