If Sean Penn isn't awarded a best actor Oscar for his work in Milk, then I'll be a monkey's uncle.
My friend Kelly and I caught the 7pm showing of Milk
at the Castro theater last night and I was blown away. It was
everything I want a film experience to be. Exhilarating, inspiring,
tragic, funny, instructive, sexy, playful ... gorgeous. Gus Van Sant
has directed some of my favorite films (e.g., Good Will Hunting), and I'm floored again by him. Simply stunning.
And there's no better place in the country to see Milk than the Castro Theater.
It really felt like a night at the theater. Not only is the place itself the most beautiful movie house I've ever been to
but watching Milk there was also one of my top 3 audience experiences ever.
The
Castro is the gay district of San Francisco, and murdered Supervisor
Harvey Milk was the first ever openly gay person elected to public
office in the United States. A brilliant speaker and neighborhood
leader, he was soon referred to as "the Mayor of Castro Street." Harvey
Milk has gained iconic status as a hero and a martyr in San Francisco (and elsewhere),
and no where is his status more exalted than in the Castro, a district
that he played a large role in transforming into the safe haven for
homosexuals that it is today.
Here's a photo of Harvey Milk- one of those brave souls who actually
helps right a social wrong in their time on earth. Despite his short
tenure in office, Harvey Milk had a profound impact on national
politics, and gave hope to a whole segment of society.
The world premiere of Milk
was no where else than the Castro theater. Indeed, where else could
they have possibly had it? Here's star Sean Penn and his beautiful wife
Robin Wright arriving for the premiere.
With all that history, watching Milk
at the Castro theater was emotional from the get-go. The audience
recognized and applauded for openly gay Supervisor Tom Ammiano in his
little cameo appearances in the film (Ammiano pictured below at the
world premiere)
and
all of the parallels between anti-gay Prop. 6 that Harvey Milk was
fighting in the 1970s and anti-gay Prop. 8 currently in the news were
not lost on the audience. At various moments during the movie, my face
was stained with tears, and at other moments I was actually sobbing.
All this emotion, and I already knew how it ended!
To quote from this article,
Milk
knew that his position as a San Francisco Supervisor advocating gay
rights placed him in danger. Hate mail began to pour into his office.
With chilling foresight Milk made a tape recording on November 18,
1977, with instructions to have it read only if he died by
assassination. In it he says, "If a bullet should enter my brain, let
that bullet destroy every closet door." On November 27, 1978,
Supervisor Milk and Mayor Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a
former police officer who had clashed with Milk over gay issues. After
shooting the mayor, White entered Milk's office and shot him five times
at his desk.
One amazing feature about the film Milk
is that it actually portrayed Dan White in a sympathetic way. That is
no small feat considering the outrage that many people have felt
toward White and that he got off with a very light sentence based on the "Twinkie
defense." Like many other aspects of the film, the treatment of White's
character was nuanced and complex.
Speaking of nuanced and complex, the performances were fantastic. I
can't even think of enough superlatives to drape around Penn. I'd
heard that his performance was excellent, and I was actually trying to
find fault with it for some reason... to no avail. Penn absolutely
disappears into the character, from his gestures and voice down to the
way he stands. Beautifully, artfully done- bravo! James Franco was
superb as well, as was Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin.
All in all, an extremely satisfying movie-going experience. There
are a number of homosexual kissing scenes, etc., so know what you're
getting into before you go... but if you're confident in your own
sexuality (whatever it may be) then get your ass down to the theater
(ideally, the Castro) and see Milk. It's unforgettable.
Milk will be playing at the Castro theater until December 23rd- better hurry.
