Movie Review

Milk

Sean Penn shines in new Gus Van Sant biopic 'Milk'

Wednesday, November 26th 2008, 4:00 AM

Photo Credit: Phil Bray

Sean Penn (center) and Diego Luna (center right) star as real-life gay rights icon Harvey Milk and his lover Jack Lira respectively in director Gus Van Sant's MILK, a Focus Features release.

A successful biopic is a collection of standard notes punctuated, hopefully, with some poetry. "Great man" movies use a parade of events, a setback or two, and a look into the private life. "Ahead of their time"tales require reversal, then foresight. "Unlikely hero"films need audiences to eventually see themselves in their subject.

"Milk," about the last eight years in the life of Harvey Milk, America's first openly gay elected politician, takes a bit from all of those traditions, but is ultimately weaker for it.

Though director Gus Van Sant's movie boasts a strong lead performance from Sean Penn and perfect political timing following the controversy over the passing of California's Proposition 8, the final result somehow undersells a man whose life and death were watershed moments in the gay rights movement.

First seen in 1970 on the night before his 40th birthday, Harvey Milk is a quick-to-smile insurance salesman from Long Island who worries that he has "done nothing" with his life.

Soon he and his lover Scott (a calm and steadying James Franco) have relocated to San Francisco, where they open a camera shop on Castro St. that becomes a neighborhood gathering spot and the launching point for Milk's campaign to join the city's Board of Supervisors.

Initially a well-meaning political newbie, Milk's third campaign finally lands him a spot in City Hall, where his savvy and nonnegotiable goal to speak for the gay community earn respect. He becomes a vital part of the defeat of Prop 6, which would have made it illegal for gays to become teachers.

Also on the board is Dan White (a spooky Josh Brolin), Milk's cultural polar opposite and the man who would fatally shoot Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone in November 1978.

On paper — and as seen in 1984's Oscar-winning documentary "The Times of Harvey Milk"— the ascension of this particular man from self-appointed "mayor of Castro St."to a force unseen, at that point, even in San Francisco politics is inspiring and heartbreaking. The 30,000 mourners at a candlight vigil following Milk's murder is a moving final image.

As a film, though, "Milk"is too methodical. Harvey can work a crowd and put their feelings into words, though those scenes are less than fiery, feeling as sedate as other moments in Dustin Lance Black's script: Harvey cuts his hair to run for office; laughs off a death threat;