Milk, round 1.

"Milk, written by Dustin Lance Black and directed by Gus Van Sant, is the first great film to look at civil rights from the perspective of the gay movement," writes the Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt. "The subject, of course, is the late, charismatic San Francisco gay activist and politician of the 1970s, Harvey Milk, played with extraordinary depth and wisdom by Sean Penn. Milk resists bumper-sticker identifications: Yes, it's a biopic, a love story, a civil rights movie and sharp political and social commentary. But it transcends any single genre as a very human document that touches first and foremost on the need to give people hope."

Updated through 11/5.

"Van Sant has always gravitated toward transgressive outcast characters, and none of them traveled so far from the margins into the status quo, or had such convulsive impact, as the real-life Harvey Milk, a New Yorker who, at 40, moved to San Francisco and broke down a significant sociopolitical barrier before being assassinated by a disturbed fellow politician," writes Variety's Todd McCarthy. "[W]hile Milk is unquestionably marked by many mandatory scenes - the electioneering, outrage at conservative opposition, tension between domestic and public life, insider politicking, public demonstrations, et al - the quality of the writing, acting and directing generally invests them with the feel of real life and credible personal interchange, rather than of scripted stops along the way from aspiration to triumph to tragedy. And on a project whose greatest danger lay in its potential to come across as agenda-driven agitprop, the filmmakers have crucially infused the story with qualities in very short supply today - gentleness and a humane embrace of all its characters, even of the entirely vilifiable gunman, Dan White."

Screen Daily's Mike Goodridge finds Milk to be "Gus Van Sant's most conventional film since Finding Forrester - but far superior.... Penn gives one of the most likeable star turns of his career as Milk, a performance filled with passion, humanity and humour which should firmly lodge him in contention for best actor awards. Emile Hirsch is terrific as his young supporter Cleve Jones, [Josh] Brolin fine as the damaged Dan White, Diego Luna appropriately shrill as Milk's unhinged lover Jack Lira and James Franco touching and strong as Scott Smith, who left Harvey when his career became all-consuming. Just as engaging as the film's scenes of activism and protest is its evocation of time and place. From the awful hairstyles to the moustaches, the flairs to the ghastly blouses, Milk offers a delirious insight into San Francisco of the 1970s."

Sam Adams profiles Franco for the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier: "Milk premiere."

Update, 11/5: Milk is far better than I was expecting it to be," writes Variety's Anne Thompson. "It had been described to me as small, political, an acting vehicle for Sean Penn. It's far more than that.... It reminds us of how far we've come, in a short time, and how far we still have to go."

Posted by dwhudson at November 3, 2008 5:23 AM