Starring Sean Penn, James Franco. Written by Dustin Lance Black. Directed by Gus Van Sant. (14A) 128 min. Opens Nov 26.
Sean Penn isn’t exactly lacking in award statuettes but his carefully rendered and extremely endearing performance as martyred gay politician Harvey Milk in Gus Van Sant’s biopic should earn him yet more hardware. It’s hard to imagine another actor so effectively capturing the same blend of pluck, canniness and exuberance that made Milk a key figure not just in the gay-rights movement of the ’70s but in the lives of his friends and colleagues.
In effect, he’s much the same man we see in Rob Epstein’s 1985 doc The Times of Harvey Milk. And though the script by Dustin Lance Black falls prey to a few common biopic afflictions (e.g., exposition-heavy dialogue, overplayed grace notes), it realizes its potential in its depiction of the 1978 battle over Proposition 6, in which Milk, newly elected to San Francisco’s city council, led the charge against the conservative forces who wanted to clear California’s schools of gay teachers. Milk’s triumph was followed by tragedy only months later, and Josh Brolin displays the same finesse as Penn in his portrayal of the quiet disintegration of city politician Dan White, Milk’s eventual assassin.
Formally conservative for a film about gay radicalism and certainly Van Sant’s most conventional effort since Finding Forrester, Milk nevertheless strikes a judicious balance between intimate personal portrait and incisive (and inspirational) political history. Prone to showboating in weaker films, Penn fully honours the real man by giving a performance that elevates and invigorates everyone around him.