Milk
In 1972, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his then-lover Scott Smith leave New York for San Francisco, with Milk determined to accomplish something meaningful in his life. There, he becomes a gay activist who fights for gay rights and later California's first openly gay elected official.
28 May 1986, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
4 January 1980, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
31 March 1965, San Jose, California, USA
12 June 1985, Palo Alto, California, USA
10 October 1954, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA
13 March 1985, Palms, California, USA
15 April 2000, Palo Alto, California, USA
27 November 1985, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1 October 1924, Plains, Georgia, USA
24 September 1979, Los Angeles, California, USA
11 October 1956, Naples, Campania, Italy
October 21, 2014
Harvey repeats throughout the film, "you've gotta give 'em hope." He did the legwork. The film is just a reminder.
May 09, 2009
Sean Penn gives a meticulously detailed performance as the cagey and charismatic pol, but credit should also go to Dustin Lance Black, whose script squarely locates Milk at the center of his community, his city, and his cause.
March 09, 2017
Penn's performance is inspiring, a transformation that finds the heart and soul of a historical figure and sends blood pumping through a man who has become practically deified over the decades.
June 22, 2013
The movie's getting a lot of praise for being an "unconventional" biopic. I don't think this is true, but it's happening, I suspect, because it's NOT a biopic: It's a cause movie.
June 01, 2015
While making a political, historical biopic, Van Sant managed, concurrently, to make a visually beautiful, emotionally thrilling and surprisingly personal work of art.
May 06, 2011
At the moment, it's my favorite movie of the year.
January 23, 2009
The story is sad, but the mood is jubilant and the energy relentless.
June 01, 2015
Penn burrows inside his character, capturing not only Milk's Long Island Jewish intonations and his gay body language but also the intensity of his beliefs and the particular mix of fear and desire through which he viewed the world.
November 28, 2008
Milk is an agitprop fantasy about the selflessness of sainthood. If anybody but Penn was playing the saint, we'd probably feel as if we were being sold a bill of goods. Instead, he just about pulls it off. Such is the treachery of talent.
September 28, 2011
A poignant lesson about the ripples of impact one impassioned individual can have, regardless of sexual orientation, and regardless of the cause.
December 11, 2008
Perhaps it is simply an accident of timing that puts Milk in theaters at this moment. But fate or simple fortunate timing, Milk arrives as one of the best films of 2008.
