Milk (2008)

That was an excellent one.

Good concept, poorly executed.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Milk is perhaps one of the most overrated films of all time and just like other movies of this kind such as Brokeback Mountain, Love Simon and many more the movie was boring and just really weird especially the story. (0/10)

MilkUnlike any other biography, it floats on to its wisely picked specific topics and stays true to its nature throughout the course of the feature which is of around 2 hours and is filled with enough material to feed the audience. Gus Van Sant's attempt is plausible and visible but it fails to project the aspired on-paper script that is adapted powerfully and written brilliantly by Dustin Lance Black. Sean Penn; as the protagonist of the feature, is doing some of his career's best work here that is not easy to ignore and is supported well enough by the cast like Josh Brolin and James Franco who holds tightly onto their parts. Milk has a smart written script that is unfortunately not executed to the perfection (it sticks to you throughout the feature) but is overpowered by stellar performance and a heart right at the centre of it.

I'm not a Sean Penn fan by any stretch, but being objective, the guy did a pretty good job of portraying the title character in this biopic of Harvey Milk, one of the country's first elected gay politicians. If you were politically aware during the Seventies, you knew of Milk because his efforts made national headlines for the gay cause while Anita Bryant, also depicted in this film via archive footage, made her mark as a religious firebrand denouncing the lifestyle. The main thing about Milk that surprised me was how professional and courteous he remained as a political activist, even when confronted by hostile opponents. And his activism didn't solely focus on gays, but in a term he coined - 'us's' - he included Blacks, Asians, working stiffs and anyone else that might have been held back by intolerance or lack of understanding. With that as a frame of reference, the movie achieved a desirable objective.

In 60's San Francisco, the police are cracking down on gay men. In 1970 NYC, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) hooks up with Scott Smith (James Franco) but he's still on the down-lo. In 1972, they decide to go to San Francisco to start anew. They find an economically-depressed Haight. Harvey opens a camera shop and becomes an organizer on Castro Street. He gathers gay support and businesses supporting gays. He meets young Phoenix teen Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch) who dismisses Harvey at first. He runs for office but fails. Anita Bryant is on a country-wide crusade against homosexuals. In 1977, there is redistricting and Harvey runs for one of the supervisors with Anne Kronenberg (Alison Pill) as his campaign manager. He starts going out with Jack Lira (Diego Luna). He finally wins as one of the first openly gay politician. In 1978, he is put in office along with opponent Dan White (Josh Brolin) from the conservative Irish Catholic district and supportive Mayor Moscone (Victor Garber). It's a tumultuous year that ends in tragedy.Director Gus Van Sant keeps this biopic along the straight and narrow following a standard biopic formula. Certainly, Harvey Milk's life has a lot of sign posts to observe. Through it all, Sean Penn gives the character a caring humanity. The large cast is populated by great actors. I would have liked more from some of these supporting characters but the story has to keep moving. Overall, this is a solid biopic.