Reasons why you should see MILK:
- It will change your life.
- Sean Penn literally disappears into the role. When I got home, I imdb-ed him, and for a few minutes, I couldn't connect the candid photograph on his profile to the person I'd just spent the last 2+ hours watching. It took a few days before I was really cognizant of the fact that he existed as a full person beyond that role. That's how complete his portrayal was. It wasn't a portrayal. It was a channel.
- It's not preachy. Obviously, it's about gay rights, and it chronicles a period in history, but it doesn't feel like a documentary or a public service announcement. I don't know from experience, but I have an inkling that's hard to do. It's not a movie that imposes its views, or tries consciously to send a message. It's a character-driven drama set in a turbulent, challenging, provocative, changing 1970s San Francisco. It's my belief that in order to portray a message, the art can't be just about the message. In Huck Finn, for example, the racism cuts through the narrative like a knife, but the reason readers care is because they connect with the character of Jim. It's not about racism, it's about one man who is being judged unfairly because he just so happens to have more of a certain pigment in his skin. It's not about the issues, it's about the people behind them, and that is where Milk succeeds. Yes, it led me to research even more about gay rights. Yes, I was inspired to create my own constitutional amendments. Yes, it probably made me even more passionate about these issues. But it's not because of the issues - it's because of Harvey Milk. The movie captures his journey with such humor, pain and grace.
- James Franco is a real actor in this movie. Don't get me wrong - he's a comedic genius. Long after Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill have faded from the limelight, James Franco will still be leading a successful career so varied in its pursuits that he will be compared to Christopher Walken. James Franco is the type of actor who will be able to record a funny sketch for funnyordie.com, meet the President, film a scene from some breakthrough Showtime drama, and read to children in a local library, all in a day. He's just that good. But in this movie, he's exact. His emotions are as clear or as cloudy as the moment desires, and you never get that feeling that he's overdoing it or underdoing it. He owns it.
- Emile Hirsch is also fantastic. He provides much of the comic relief, and he steals every scene he's in. It wouldn't surprise me if he didn't break character between takes, because his whole body goes into being Clive Jones, his whole being. I can't see him walking like a normal person off to his trailer. The transition had to have been hard for him.
I will probably add more to this later. I know it's a rant. Deal with it.
Love you all,
Lw
PS: Internal Playlist-->
Shinedown- Second Chance
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