Milk premiere.

"The guests came to the Castro Theatre on Tuesday dressed in Levi's and designer dresses, '70s-chic velvet jackets and drag-queen heels and glitter," reports Steven Winn for the San Francisco Chronicle. "It looked like a glamorous early start on Halloween, but actually it was a Hollywood affair complete with a red carpet and a who's-who invitation list. And, it was all devoted to a sold-out, one-night-only, world-premiere benefit screening of Milk, the hotly anticipated new film about the life, times and tragic death of controversial San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk."

Seen at the scene: "Vote No on Prop 8" signs, Mayor Gavin Newsom, Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Sean Penn, who plays Milk, and his wife, Robin Wright Penn, Josh Brolin, who plays assassin Dan White and director Gus Van Sant. Not seen: the inside-baseball-level controversy over Focus Features' release strategy.

Updated through 10/31.

Yesterday, CEO James Schamus responded to the Hollywood Reporter article and blog entry speculating up a couple of reasons why Focus may be "hiding" the film. In a letter indieWIRE editor Eugene Hernandez posts in full at his blog, Schamus shoots back to the Reporter, "That's a pretty serious charge, especially made by a reporter who did not call us to get his facts, so to speak, straight." In short, the film hasn't screened at festivals yet because it hasn't been ready in time. What's more, "We determined early on that the only appropriate place for the world premiere of Milk was San Francisco."

Nathan Lee, blogging for WNYC, notes that he "saw it twice in order to write a feature story in the upcoming issue of Film Comment, and was politely asked not to publish, post, or otherwise publicly broadcast my critical take on the movie. But so what? That strikes me as a perfectly professional agreement to make, given that I saw the film for a particular assignment. And the notion that there's anything worrisome about Milk not premiering at a big awards-season player like the Toronto Film Festival is both silly and small-minded." And he's still not reviewing it; but he does add that "it's impossible to watch Milk and not see the Obama narrative reflected in ways that are both stirring and unnerving. Were Milk already in theaters and chewed over by the media, it would have been sucked into the election discourse like everything else - and likely raised the subject of political assassination in ways that no one much wants to contemplate."

Updates: "In a private comment, a young gay writer appropriately labeled the film "our Malcolm X" following a recent screening of the film," writes Eugene Hernandez. "Indeed, at times Milk evokes early Spike Lee more than the recent work of Gus Van Sant. The emotional tug of the movie is impossible to resist, especially for queer viewers challenged to openly embrace their history. By the end of the film, when a staged candelight vigil seamlessly blends into footage of the actual silent march in memory of Milk, many in the theater were crying. Extended applause followed as the credits rolled and the lights came up at the Castro."

"Sean Penn gives an Oscar lock performance of power and subtlety that ranks with the best of his career," writes David Poland.

"[T]onally and aesthetically the film falls somwhere between [Good Will Hunting and [My Own Private Idaho]," suggests the Playlist. "Yes, it's certainly Gus Van Sant's most classical and straight-forward work since the aforementioned Boston prodigy drama, but Milk is executed without sacrificing his signature stamp - there's subtle and little flourishes of his creative filmmaking touches that we haven't seen since his Drugstore Cowboy and Idaho days."

Claudia Eller reports on the premiere for the Los Angeles Times.

Kristi Turnquist was there, too, for the Oregonian.

Updates, 10/31: Producer William Horberg has notes and photos from the premiere. Via Movie City News.

From Guy Adams's report for the Independent: "The new film features a scene in which Penn enjoys a long French kiss with his co-star, James Franco. In a recent interview, Franco revealed that shortly after the scene was shot, Penn text-messaged his former wife Madonna saying: 'I just popped my cherry kissing a guy. I thought of you, I don't know why.' The singer texted back: 'Congratulations!'"

Posted by dwhudson at October 29, 2008 7:49 AM