Milk

THIS IS A WARNING THAT THE FOLLOWING BLOG POST CONTAINS SOME MINOR SPOILERS FOR THE NEW FOCUS FEATURE, MILK.

Erin and I took the short drive up to Scottsdale this evening to see Gus Van Sant's latest project, Milk. The film stars Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin and follows the political career of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be voted into a major public office in the United States. Van Sant weaves through Dustin Lance Black's beautiful script with the same purpose and conviction that drove the politician in question. The film, however, is less about the man and more about the movement he brought to the forefront, a movement that is very prevalent today given the recent passing of laws in several states restricting the rights of homosexuals to adopt children and/or be married. By piecing together archived news footage with newly shot material, Van Sant makes it easy to see similarities between the frenzy cooked up by folks like Anita Baker in the late 70s and some of today's conservative leaders. I should add that Danny Elfman provides an excellent (and may I add very un-Elfmanlike) score.

Sean Penn delivers an outstanding performance that has Oscar written all over it. Generally speaking, Hollywood loves to see a leading man go through some incredible transformation and a very straight Sean Penn playing a very gay Harvey Milk seems to fit that bill, but it isn't just that simple. Penn possesses incredible honesty, strength, vulnerability and charm throughout the film. He is simply mesmerizing.

The timing of this film's release could hardly be more appropriate. With gay rights again on the political forefront and a new President-Elect promising change, the message of the film's message is resounding. As Penn emphatically says as Milk towards the middle of the film, "You've got to give the people hope."