Milk
Director:
Gus Van Sant
Stars: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch
Studio: Focus Features
The Plot: A chronicle of Harvey Milk’s (Penn) ascent to become San Francisco’s first openly gay city supervisor in 1977, and the political fallout that led to his assassination, as well as Mayor George Moscone’s, the following year.
Photos
THE BUZZ: While millions of Californians are reeling from Proposition 8’s passage, Gus van Sant turns the clock back 30 years, to a golden moment in San Francisco that, though it soon turned to rust, provided a singular voice for the city’s gay and lesbian population (perhaps something that was missing for Prop 8). I am fortunate enough to live in said city, and it was striking to see what the Milk crew did with their big budget (well, big for a GVS production) in order to return the Castro to its 70s-era splendor; Milk’s camera store was recreated, the Castro Theater got a hot makeover, classic cars jammed the streets, there were parades, and Sean Penn could be seen traipsing around the Haight, looking foxy in a kimono. (At least I think that was him.) While the film received its fair share of attention toward the end of the summer — James Franco, who plays Milk’s lover, seemed to enjoy throwing a kink in Pineapple Express press junkets by describing what it was like to kiss Sean Penn — we already know that distributor Focus Features (still smarting from Brokeback?) has an Oscar campaign waiting in the wings. Will Josh Brolin, who here plays city-supervisor-turned-assassin Dan White, receive a nomination for this role, or for W., or both?
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