Milk

After an excellent dinner and beer at C’est What, Sam, Adam, Jessica and I headed to the Rainbow Cinemas for the 9:10 showing of Milk yesterday evening. It is truly a powerful and provocative story. The performances are excellent, and I understand now why Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke are neck-and-neck for best actor at the Oscars. (In my opinion, Rourke still wins hands down, but I can see the other side of it.) In terms of “best” picture, I don’t believe that this holds a candle to Slumdog Millionaire, and don’t think it will win. Gus Van Sant’s visual style also seemed really inconsistent. He did some great shots using reflections (the whistle!) but didn’t do too much else that really drew me in on that level. I think this is an important story about an important man at an important time. I felt quite sad at the end of the movie, because thirty years on, the state of California has taken a huge step backward from the ideals and ideas of Harvey Milk and his team.

This was a poorly written review, brought to you by me.