Sean Penn in the performance of a lifetime

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2009)

While there are many outstanding actors and actresses out there who give brilliant performances, we often see them as an actor portraying (however well) a character. It is the mark of a truly gifted actor to see them only as their character, and not as an actor portraying them. While this is a difficult feat for an unknown actor to accomplish, it is much more so for a well-known actor because everyone knows their face from their past roles.
The reason why I bring this up is so I can truly explain how good Sean Penn is in "Milk." Penn completely inhabits the character's shoes, and even though Penn's face is well-known, we only see Harvey Milk on-screen, not Sean Penn portraying Harvey Milk. Penn's second Oscar was well deserved. Sean Penn is an electrifying actor, but this is his best performance. In fact, this is one of the best performances by an actor that I have ever seen.
"Milk" details the life and times of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official. Save for a little background, the film concentrates solely on Milk's political career, one that was cut too short by an assassination by Dan White, who was a fellow supervisor (up until a few days before the murders).
The film focuses on the character of Harvey Milk, and through this exploration, we follow him through his career. The story of Milk's campaigning and occupation as the supervisor is not shortchanged, but the film is about the man. Milk was more of an activist than a politician. He never did things by the book. He saw what needed to be done, and he did it. He knew how to attract attention to his cause, and he took advantage of that repeatedly. Strangely, though, Milk became as much of a politician as anyone else, although he still worked in the same fashion.
Penn is surrounded by a number of capable actors: James Franco, Diego Luna, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Alison Pill. All give solid performances, but all of them fade into the background against Penn. Josh Brolin was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Dan White. While Brolin is always credible, he seems a little too restrained. Of the bunch, newcomer Alison Pill fares the best. It's a bit part, but Pill is very good as the lesbian Anne Kronenberg. Milk has the passion, but Anne has the smarts for getting his ideas to work.
"Milk" requires that the viewer pay attention. Dustin Lance Black's Oscar-winning script is dense, and it is very possible for a person to miss something if they are not paying attention. That being said, this is no "Michael Clayton:" you don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to understand it.
Gus Van Sant has never been a director to play it safe. Van Sant does what he wants, and even in his "mainstream" efforts, he could care less about what is commercially accessible. If it works, he'll use it. When it works, it's brilliant. First and most noticeably is his use of archive footage in the film. This is a tremendously effective approach to the work, and the technique is very well done; often times it is difficult to tell what is archive footage and what is not.
One thing I especially liked about "Milk" is how it doesn't see its characters as stereotypes. Gays are not presented as effeminate or socially awkward. They are normal people and for once, Hollywood had the sense to not reinforce stereotypes.
Unfortunately, there are too many little problems here and there that prevent me from giving this film a 10. It's the little things, like one scene is slightly confusing, a certain transition doesn't work, and so on. The ending is meant to be very powerful and dramatic, but the film needed more focus on the story of Harvey Milk's career for that to have been as effective as Van Sant surely wanted it to be.
Still, "Milk" is highly recommended. Gay, straight, bisexual, homophobic or not, "Milk" is highly recommended.