Milk
Focus Features | Release Date: November 26, 2008
7.5
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Generally favorable reviews based on 358 Ratings
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10
cameronmorewoodNov 17, 2012
A very important American film, Milk is made great by Penn's extraordinary performance and the ingenuity of the script.
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8
Compi24Nov 28, 2012
Featuring an unforgettable performance from Sean Penn, excellent directorial work from Gus Van Sant, and a first-rate script by Dustin Lance Black, "Milk" proves itself to be heartwarming, provocative, and unafraid.
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9
worleyjamersMay 23, 2013
I absolutely loved it! Sean Penn gives the best performance of his career. He truly steps into the character and completely deserved his Oscar. Great cast. There were a few minor missteps here and there, particularly with some of theI absolutely loved it! Sean Penn gives the best performance of his career. He truly steps into the character and completely deserved his Oscar. Great cast. There were a few minor missteps here and there, particularly with some of the character development, but that does not hold this film back from being one of the absolute best films of 2008. A stand out film of the LGBT movement.… Expand
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10
hanneguacamoleJul 5, 2015
This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I've been reading Roger Ebert's book Life Itself recently, and the piece of advice that I've gleamed the most from him is that you should see what a movie does to you, especially when you don't know what else to say. It's not that Milk is indescribable, because it was very concrete and I know exactly what transpired. But in a time where gay marriage has just become legal, I'm moved to tears knowing the past of this movement and it's affect on me as a person.

I've been alive in the tail-end of this movement, and I've never had to worry about not being able to marry the person I love and I will never have to. The fight isn't over, but Harvey Milk was the beginning. He started a revolution and I will be forever grateful. Even if it took over forty years, we've made it to a place that must have seemed so distant during this time.

Harvey Milk didn't dream of changing the world, and there's no way that he dreamed that so many people would be affected by his legacy, yet that decisive moment in running for office changed so many people's lives for the better. As the "mayor of Castor Street," Milk took it on his shoulders to be the voice of the people. "I am not a candidate, I am part of a movement. The movement is the candidate. There is a difference."

Harvey and Scotty moved here, to San Francisco, together. Milk's personal life may not have been the best with each significant relationship, but that did not hold back his professional life. With various successes, he helped countless people and I know I'm rambling about Harvey Milk when there are other aspects to this movie, but it's so important to me. It affected me and its execution let it do that.

Each character was portrayed with passion. It was electric and I could feel it through my computer screen. Sean Penn was elected right before my eyes, James Franco inspired him, and Josh Brolin gave us someone to hate. Milk was White's trial and public humiliation that he should have received years ago. The Twinkie Defense is disgraceful and I'm appalled that the discrimination was so blatant not even that long ago.… Expand
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10
alejandro970Apr 17, 2020
Sean Penn in one his masterly roles, as Harvey Milk, narrating his history in own words. Milk was nearly a paladin of minorities and especially the LGBT community, always facing prejudices of closed minds. What also stands out is the supportSean Penn in one his masterly roles, as Harvey Milk, narrating his history in own words. Milk was nearly a paladin of minorities and especially the LGBT community, always facing prejudices of closed minds. What also stands out is the support casting and the period setting.… Expand
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6
amheretojudgeFeb 28, 2018
no, but god knows we keep trying..

Milk Unlike any other biography, it floats on to its wisely picked specific topics and stays true to its nature throughout the course of the feature which is of around 2 hours and is filled with enoughno, but god knows we keep trying..

Milk

Unlike any other biography, it floats on to its wisely picked specific topics and stays true to its nature throughout the course of the feature which is of around 2 hours and is filled with enough material to feed the audience. Gus Van Sant's attempt is plausible and visible but it fails to project the aspired on-paper script that is adapted powerfully and written brilliantly by Dustin Lance Black. Sean Penn; as the protagonist of the feature, is doing some of his career's best work here that is not easy to ignore and is supported well enough by the cast like Josh Brolin and James Franco who holds tightly onto their parts. Milk has a smart written script that is unfortunately not executed to the perfection (it sticks to you throughout the feature) but is overpowered by stellar performance and a heart right at the centre of it.… Expand
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7
FilipeNetoMar 20, 2021
Going back to the Seventies and revisiting the figure of Harvey Milk is invariably watching the birth of something more than a movement for the rights of homosexuals. It is watching the rise of a lobby, which today is extraordinarilyGoing back to the Seventies and revisiting the figure of Harvey Milk is invariably watching the birth of something more than a movement for the rights of homosexuals. It is watching the rise of a lobby, which today is extraordinarily powerful, rich and influential enough to put the rest of society in check. This is Milk's legacy: a movement that no longer fights just for the right to respect or equality, but fights for power, for the control of society, as a brotherhood, a new Freemasonry.

Focusing on the film itself, I think it is an interesting film. It begins with the move of Milk and her boyfriend to a San Francisco effervescent with social changes and dominated by the counterculture, and follows its trajectory of political and social activism until the tragic outcome. I think the film was quite faithful in the portrayal it made of Milk's historical figure, but I don't know if the portrayal of the other agents in this story (like Milk's opponents) was so rigorous and accurate. I think the film is concerned with glorifying Milk and the movement he started and, thus, takes a stand, demonizing or ridiculing the rest. But the cinema is full of politically or socially militant films, for one reason or another, and that is not what makes this film better or worse. It makes it only partial.

Sean Penn is an excellent actor and did a very good job. He would highlight, especially, his way of acting and the way he adapted to the character. He actually embodied Milk and became him, deserving in all fairness the Oscar for Best Actor that was awarded to him by the Academy that year. I also really liked Josh Brolin's work, giving life to a man whose emotions and mental balance seem to walk on the razor's edge. The film also has a good secondary cast, with actors as competent as Emile Hirsch, James Franco and Allison Pill. Personally, I didn't like Diego Luna's work very much, I found it irritating and tiring.

Technically, it is an equally good film. It makes an interesting and satisfactory use of the archival images, and inserts them in the middle of the film in a very successful way. Cinematography is very good, it is perfectly suited to the film and the period, not too vivid or too washed, and the filming is clear and sharp. The editing work is good and effective, and the sets, as well as the costumes, were very well done and were able to faithfully reproduce the time and the temporal and spatial context. The soundtrack is effective, but discreet.… Expand
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6
NickTheCritickNov 3, 2021
When Van Sant gives himself up to commercial movies, leaving out personal interests and passions, he ends up making ordinary films that seem to be lacking a bit of soul. And "Milk" is just one of them.
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