Milk (2008/I)

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writer (WGA):

Dustin Lance Black (written by)

Release Date:

30 January 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

His life changed history. His courage changed lives.

Plot:

The story of Harvey Milk, and his struggles as an American gay activist who fought for gay rights and became California's first openly gay elected official.

Plot Keywords:

Gay | Harvey Milk | Gay Rights | Lover | Politician

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 32 wins & 45 nominations

Cast

Sean Penn	...	Harvey Milk
Emile Hirsch	...	Cleve Jones
Josh Brolin	...	Dan White
Diego Luna	...	Jack Lira
James Franco	...	Scott Smith
Alison Pill	...	Anne Kronenberg
Victor Garber	...	Mayor George Moscone
Denis O'Hare	...	State Senator John Briggs
Joseph Cross	...	Dick Pabich
Stephen Spinella	...	Rick Stokes
Lucas Grabeel	...	Danny Nicoletta
Brandon Boyce	...	Jim Rivaldo
Howard Rosenman	...	David Goodstein
Kelvin Yu	...	Michael Wong
Jeff Koons	...	Art Agnos

Also Known As:

Untitled Harvey Milk Project (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language, some sexual content and brief violence.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #44714) | UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Australia:M | Singapore:R21 | Finland:K-13 | Italy:T | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Brazil:16 | Portugal:M/12 | Portugal:M/12 (re-rating on appeal) | Philippines:R-13 (MTRCB) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:16 | Sweden:11 | Japan:PG-12 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Hong Kong:IIB | Mexico:B15 | Austria:10 | Denmark:11 | Germany:12 | France:U | Iceland:12 | Peru:14

Filming Locations:

29th & Dolores Streets, Noe Valley, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Focus Features

Trivia:

During breaks in filming, avid reader James Franco ploughed through the works of Thomas Pynchon.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: During rally scenes in the San Francisco Civic Center, the old and new San Francisco Public Library buildings are visible in the background. The Pei Cobb Freed designed New Main Branch Library was not built until 1995

Quotes:

Harvey Milk: [First lines] This is Harvey Milk speaking on Friday November 18th. This is to be played only in the event of my death by assassination. During one of the early campaigns, I started opening my speeches with the same line and it sort of became my signature... Hello, I'm Harvey Milk, and I'm here to recruit you.

Movie Connections:

References Jezebel (1938)

Soundtrack:

Queen Bitch

Sweet And Powerful Milk

It happened only 30 years ago but it looks and feels as if it had been much, much longer and yet we're still dealing with many of the same issues. Gus Van Sant moves slightly and respectfully to mainstream to tell us this inspiring and tragic story. Sean Penn is superb as Harvey Milk, none of the traits that made him famous are present here, other than his talent that is, he exudes a positive sweetness that is compelling and contagious. Josh Brolin as Dan White, manages the impossible by giving the assassin an unexpected but welcome humanity. James Franco as Milk's lover is, quite simply, scrumptious. As it happens with most biopics we're forced to run from event to event to be fair and accurate and "Milk" suffers from that. I wanted more insight into Diego Luna's character - the most problematic - and into Emile Hirsch's character but the essentials are here and the essentials must be listed in lyrical terms. History yes but also poetry. Hope as a theme. A triumph!