Milk Reviews

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Great honesty makes change happen?

SPOILER*****************SPOILER

A continuation of Gus Van Sant's series of films with subjects around fatal shootings. This one is covering a period of time when gay men organised politically to gain greater acknowledgement from those living around them and how this lead to the first openly gay official becoming elected in the United States of America.

This film shows with clarity, the pain and suffering caused by standing for office and doesn't make the main protaganist out to be any kind of saint... very refreshing.

The actors, of all gender and sexuality roles portray their humanity well and don't shy from complexity.

The camera work is fine and if you get the chance this film works very well on the big screen.

Gus Van Sant is more than able to handle the structure of the narrative, which does maintain Penn/Milk's engaging central role throughout the film.

I can't critise Sean Penn in this movie, he brings life back to Harvey Milk, and his performance allows the audience to fully engage with Harvey even though we're preparing for the inevitably tragic end.

This film does take it's time to apreciate Harvey Milk and all those around him, being a tribute with out emotional manipulation or schmaltz. I would have liked to know Harvey Milk. Living in hamlet in the UK, I never heard his message of hope when I was young, I do remember his death being reported as a young man. This film brought me his message of hope, anger and a willingness to accept change, even force it when needed.

In these days the politics of hope are refreshingly brought to the fore in this film. Let's hope that this work will help to dispel any undeserved cynicism about some activists motivation.

OverallI found this film a real joy, despite the painful journey, plenty of tears and my need to have a resolution I new impossible as Milk dies too young.

WOW - This is a DREAFULLY BAD film. REALLY LOUSY !

I was expecting this to be quite good, Sean Penn, 21 gramms etc. But is actually terrible. Sean Penn himself is laughable as Milk and the support cast are just unknown actors. We wondered if any of them were actually gay in real life since they overacted it so badly. Its like watching Danny Larou impersonating MArgaret Thatcher. We gave it an hour then had to turn it off because it was just SO irritating.

One to miss for certain.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Excellent

Gus Van Sant's biopic of gay politician/activist Harvey Milk is a fascinating, engrossing film that celebrates the power of the individual in the fight for human rights. This is one of those films that whilst not 'feel-good' is ultimately uplifting as it follows Milk from his 40th birthday in 1970 New York to his untimely death in 1978.

Sean Penn is truly outstanding in the title role, to such a point that it is easy to overlook the excellent performances by the rest of the cast, especially James Franco and Josh Brolin, who both turn in fantastic performances.

Van Sant's direction may be his most conventional in a few years but that also allows him to show off his skill with storytelling and character development. He also avoids the usual hollywood trap of making this a film about Saint Milk by showing his weaknesses and flaws as well as his charisma and power. Van Sant's direction remains restrained throughout, taking time to develop the historical background and context as well as the main characters. Ultimately, a first rate movie

Milk. Short but Fair.

Sean Penn’s acting was very good. The film could have had 30 minutes cut off of it and no-one would have missed those minutes. The story is basically ‘we are gay except us for what we are’ all the way through. Some films like Broke Back Mountain make you think about it afterwards. Other films like The Naked Civil Servant make you think about how hard it can be to be different. This film made me think of why I did not turn it off sooner. It takes the viewer nowhere new. The story has nowhere to go after the first 30 or 40 minutes. I got to the end always thinking it might have something big to say or leave me with at the end. It had nothing at the end other than the credits.

Dont bother with this

I had to turn it off half way through. That, in my book is a sin..to turn off films..but this was excruciating to watch. Please, you wont get back the time so save it for a wellworth film. This is not it

Amazing

Just saw this movie at one of the free previews. I went in not really knowing a lot about the film or content. I walked out close to tears and wanting to find out more about this amazing man - Harvey Milk. The film really was amazing - the acting was great, the way it flowed, the content - just everything was right about this film.

If Sean Penn doesnt win an Oscar, i will be very suprised.

Good but not for everyone

It just shows again the way the USA has taken a long time to catch up.

Now they are going crazy & being Gay is the best thing ever.

Worth watching if the history of gay rights in the USA are interesting to you.

Essential vewing for everyone...

And a good old fashioned tearjerker too. As a 60 year old gay man, what can I say; film is art, film is entertainment, and here, film is history. Wonderful to relive those heady days, but why wasn't this film made 20 years ago. It's not necessarily a gay film, as audiences are showing; it's about personal courage, and standing up and being counted. A film for everyone, but did we really use expletives quite so much back then! I would have like to see greater reflection of gay women but perhaps the film does reflect the way things were. Don't miss it.

Milk

Good film but rather long.

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Informative gay rights film

Won some preview tickets to see this film and was pretty excited as it sounded very promising. It is a typical Gus Van Sant movie (think My own private Idaho) as it's quite slow and deals with the birth of the gay rights movement in America and it's creator Harvey Milk who got assassinated. The performances were pretty great by most of the cast and it was a very interesting movie even though it's a film I could have comfortably watched on DVD instead of a cinema. Worth watching though!