Milk

Milk (2008)

Director: Gus Van Sant
Cast: Sean Penn, James Franco, Emilie Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna

Gus Van Sant has crafted one of his finest works in "Milk." The movies tells the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to office in California who was later assassinated, along with Mayor George Moscone. Quite easily, this film could have portrayed Harvey Milk as a saint, but it doesn't. Rather, it cleverly details Harvey Milk's life realistically, give Harvey Milk a human tone, giving him both strengths and weaknesses, which leaves the audience to better understand who he was and what made him tick. And one cannot walk away from this film without mentioning the incredible performances, mainly from Sean Penn in the lead role. Penn does not play Milk as much as he embodies him, giving his performance such a precise attention to detail, that one thinks that they are actually watching Harvey Milk himself. By the end of the film, when Gus Van Sant shows footage of the actual people and the candle light vigil held after Milk's death, the audience knows that they have seen movie-making at its best.