Around once a year, we, the cinema-going public, are presented with a Hollywood offering that is truly brilliant- a film that renews one’s faith in American cinema.
Last year we were given two, in the form of There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men and this year, we have already been given one. Out just in time for Oscar season is the new Harvey Milk biopic, directed by Gus Van Sant. A director of varying pedigree, ranging from the brilliant Affleck and Damon collaboration, Good Will Hunting to the frankly abysmal Psycho remake just a year later, Van Sant may here have placed himself amongst the very best.
Milk follows the life and political career of Harvey Milk, the first openly homosexual man to achieve public office in the United States. This film is wonderfully written, it has a moving intelligence and it is paced to perfection. A supporting cast of James Franco and Josh Brolin ensures the acting in Milk is of a consistently high standard, whilst Sean Penn offers a performance he is unlikely ever to surpass.
Penn is truly sublime. This is a performance far from the gruff, powerful masculinity of his earlier turns in Mystic River and Dead Man Walking. He seems to truly envelop the character of Harvey Milk as few actors can, at the end of the film images of Milk and Penn are paired together, and between them there is little if any difference. This is a tribute to an incredible portrayal of an incredible man. Milk is a rarity; it is a truly inspired and inspirational picture, a challenging story that is interwoven with just the right blend of elegance and humour.
I’m not ashamed to admit that I got incrediblly emotional involved with this film – but this is not just a weepy. It is a serious statement about the need for a movement for change, and, coming at a time when Proposition 8 has just been passed in California, and states across the U.S. are banning gay marriages like they’re made from Nazi gold, Milk makes an important statement about the desperate need for equality across the gay, black, and immigrant communities of America.
Having stumbled at the first hurdles of the Golden Globes, Milk might seize the recognition it deserves at the Academy Awards come February, particularly with Sean Penn pitting his wits against Hollywood’s comeback kid, Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. The fight is on. And if Penn loses, we will just have to blame the Academy’s conservatism. Because this film deserves every Oscar going. Milk is not only one of the best films of the year, it is one of the best of the decade. And January isn’t even over!
Five Stars
Release: 23rd January
Director: Gus Van Sant
STARRING: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco
