Harvey Milk (2008)

Michelle Flores40 said:I haven't seen Harvey Milk, but I'm getting a little nervous here. It seems like the movies you call bad are actually good to me, and the ones you love are the ones I can't stand.😍

Which is exactly why I take just about everything I read on this forum with a massive grain of salt. 🙂

The movie is fantastic, and Penn's performance? Absolutely top-tier. It’s just not for people living in the past with all those outdated prejudices!

The movie was alright—just a bit too much gay subtext for my personal taste 😬.
I mean, hey, if that's your thing, go for it 😁:

It’s an interesting film—I don't mind watching queer cinema, honestly—but you have to hand it to the actors for leaning so hard into all that homoeroticism and male sexuality... though I really don't think Sean Penn needs an Academy Award for it. The truth is, there are only "normal" people in this world; everyone else is just technological surplus. Not that it matters if you're good at playing the part... ☕

Michelle Flores40 said:I haven't seen Harvey Milk, but I'm getting a little nervous here. It seems like the movies you call bad are actually good to me, and the ones you love are the ones I can't stand.😍

✋ Raising my hand here. But don't worry, Harvey Milk is actually quite good. He’s nothing like Will Hunting, and certainly not anything like that Blues cowgirl.😁

I really like the camera. It’s quite something, I guess. The seventies. I suppose there was something about that decade. It felt different, maybe? A bit more raw, I guess..
Brilliant Sean Penn, though I suppose I haven't doubted him since Dead Man Walking.

The scene where Harvey Milk and Scott first meet is just incredibly intense. It’s so charged with eroticism, yet it feels remarkably lighthearted and queer in such an endearing way. I suppose it might be the most striking moment in the entire film for me. Honestly, it’s the first movie that has actually managed to convey same-sex attraction to the point where you feel like the tension in the room could explode at any second.
I guess James Franco is quite the discovery.👍

I found this film absolutely wonderful—it was exactly the kind of escape I needed that day. 🙂

Emily Thomas3 said:Maybe it's because he's gay? 😉 Also, speaking of Franco, did you catch Freaks & Geeks? He was amazing in that... too bad it only lasted one season.

I thought the movie was alright, but it would've been great if it didn't have such a pathetic ending. For me, his death during that opera scene felt way more forced than the actual procession; I just don't get why they try to force the melodrama when the event itself is already so heavy and powerful.
The best part for me was how much it hit me in the gut—you really get emotionally invested in the characters, which is awesome. But that ending was a letdown; they didn't need all that extra stuff... Anyway, both Harvey Milk and Nixon/Kennedy are solid films, but I think Harvey Milk hits a bit harder. I'd give it a 7/10.

Why is that? I don't see anything pathetic about a faithful recreation of real events. If you're referring to Tosca and that moment where he reminisces about not living to see fifty—well, surely a film needs some sort of resolution at the end; it's either that, or we'd need a few extra minutes of the parade... 🙂

I wouldn't necessarily call his performance breathtaking...
However, he did an excellent job portraying both sides of the gay community.
Life isn't just black and white, and the same goes for the community—it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, there are darker complexities too...
Brilliant Sean Penn!

Raymond Sanchez7 said:I wouldn't necessarily call his performance breathtaking...
However, he did an excellent job portraying both sides of the gay community.
Life isn't just black and white, and the same goes for the community—it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, there are darker complexities too...
Brilliant Sean Penn!

But who exactly is portraying gay men as being "eternally white"?
Is it possible you might have missed the core essence of the film? In this movie, I didn't see anything that fits your colorful description of being both black *and* homosexual.
What I actually witnessed was activism and several deeply moving life stories.
Despite how everything wrapped up, the experience didn't leave a bitter taste in my mouth at all; if anything, it was quite the opposite.

I am well aware of your orientation, so I won't be bothering myself with any further debates on this subject with you; from what I have gathered, you hold rather orthodox views on being gay—no offense intended, but I have noticed your somewhat aggressive stance regarding this topic across a few different threads... However, as I just stated, if you didn't catch that, I actually find it refreshing that the film depicts gay characters, including that entire community and their activism, as shades of gray, perhaps even leaning toward black at times, since there are moments where Harvey Milk acts like a total hypocrite, if you'll pardon my language, and I actually found that quite compelling... They aren't portrayed as mere caricatures like in the thousand other films that came before it, but rather with a certain level of objectivity and realism.😉

Ashley Young4 said:I found this film absolutely wonderful—it was exactly the kind of escape I needed that day. 🙂

Why is that? I don't see anything pathetic about a faithful recreation of real events. If you're referring to Tosca and that moment where he reminisces about not living to see fifty—well, surely a film needs some sort of resolution at the end; it's either that, or we'd need a few extra minutes of the parade... 🙂

Of course I mean Tosca, that’s what I literally just said. I’d honestly rather watch ten more minutes of vegetables than deal with unnecessary sentimentality right when a character is dying. He's dying, for God's sake, and you're trying to trivialize it with some stupid little detail. Gross.

Raymond Sanchez7 said:I am well aware of your orientation, so I won't be bothering myself with any further debates on this subject with you; from what I have gathered, you hold rather orthodox views on being gay—no offense intended, but I have noticed your somewhat aggressive stance regarding this topic across a few different threads... However, as I just stated, if you didn't catch that, I actually find it refreshing that the film depicts gay characters, including that entire community and their activism, as shades of gray, perhaps even leaning toward black at times, since there are moments where Harvey Milk acts like a total hypocrite, if you'll pardon my language, and I actually found that quite compelling... They aren't portrayed as mere caricatures like in the thousand other films that came before it, but rather with a certain level of objectivity and realism.😉

Regardless of your preconceptions about me or your decision to "not engage in further debate"—given that you're still actively debating here—I find myself wondering: could you clarify exactly where you felt Harvey Milk was being a "hypocrite"?
And would you mind listing at least three films from your supposed collection of a thousand and one that portray gay characters as mere buffoons? (Though, personally, I don't see anything wrong with such depictions given much of the world and history.)

Emily Thomas3, I wasn't particularly fond of the Tosca detail either, though I don't believe that alone makes the entire ending pathetic. But then again, that's just my take. 🙂

Man, those three really did a number on Josh Brolin. They lied straight to his face and played him just like a seasoned politician. Pure Machiavellian moves right there.

I wouldn't call that hypocrisy. 🙂
His objective was perfectly transparent, and he was determined to reach it by any means necessary.

It would actually be hypocritical if, for instance, he were publicly acting as an advocate for gay rights while secretly working to undermine everything behind the scenes. Honestly, that would have been pretty foolish, wouldn't it? :/

One thing he says, another thing he does. Honestly, the guy was a jerk 😁 a significant jerk who actually did a lot of good for a huge group of people, but still a jerk (in the movie, anyway—not sure how it played out in real life).

Watched it last night and honestly, I think the movie is totally overrated. Where do I even start? Look... I can't stand it when films tackling discrimination don't offer an objective viewpoint, but instead try to "force" you to feel sympathy for the victims and give them a "shoulder to cry on." I just don't vibe with that kind of "morally pathetic" approach toward the audience. Second, which ties back to my first point, I hate it when a story is too one-sided—when the viewer is funneled into seeing things through exactly one lens, the one the writer dictates. I didn't feel any sense of freedom here; if anything, it felt like being coerced into looking at things from the specific angle "they" wanted me to see. And no, I'm not some homophobe, I just don't want this kind of author-to-viewer relationship. Given that the subject matter is literally about discrimination, having a biased narrative is the last thing this should be doing...

To be fair, it’s not all bad. There are some good parts. Mainly, the acting by Brilliant Sean Penn is nothing short of incredible. I was actually surprised by how well he controlled the character, keeping him grounded in reality even when it seemed like he might slip, though he's always been a great actor. Josh Brolin is also really solid, and as far as the rest of the cast goes, I think everyone hit their mark.

Bottom line: the movie is okay, but it could have been much better, much more open, and less one-sided... I think it would have worked way better if the film wasn't basically just targeted gay propaganda.

I can't stand discrimination, so it hits me hard whenever anyone's rights are being stepped on.
Movies like this play right into that—they try to trigger that whole activist spirit in you.
In my opinion, this one actually pulls it off... even though I'm not gay myself. 🙂

Oh, and something just hit me—where were all the lesbians in this? They were getting discriminated against by the gays, haha... but that's a whole other conversation.

I’m not a fan of discrimination either, so I’ve got no beef with anyone being sidelined. Honestly, "discriminating against the audience" doesn't even bother me when we're talking about an auteur's vision—sometimes that's just part of the art. But that’s definitely not what's happening here.

Jerry Martin19 said:Watched it last night and honestly, I think the movie is totally overrated. Where do I even start? Look... I can't stand it when films tackling discrimination don't offer an objective viewpoint, but instead try to "force" you to feel sympathy for the victims and give them a "shoulder to cry on." I just don't vibe with that kind of "morally pathetic" approach toward the audience. Second, which ties back to my first point, I hate it when a story is too one-sided—when the viewer is funneled into seeing things through exactly one lens, the one the writer dictates. I didn't feel any sense of freedom here; if anything, it felt like being coerced into looking at things from the specific angle "they" wanted me to see. And no, I'm not some homophobe, I just don't want this kind of author-to-viewer relationship. Given that the subject matter is literally about discrimination, having a biased narrative is the last thing this should be doing...

To be fair, it’s not all bad. There are some good parts. Mainly, the acting by Brilliant Sean Penn is nothing short of incredible. I was actually surprised by how well he controlled the character, keeping him grounded in reality even when it seemed like he might slip, though he's always been a great actor. Josh Brolin is also really solid, and as far as the rest of the cast goes, I think everyone hit their mark.

Bottom line: the movie is okay, but it could have been much better, much more open, and less one-sided... I think it would have worked way better if the film wasn't basically just targeted gay propaganda.

I agree with this, though we have to admit the directing is excellent.
As for an objective standpoint, the story is told through the lens of Harvey Milk, so objectivity wasn't exactly on the menu, but even so, I didn't particularly like the character, I didn't feel for him, and I wouldn't offer him a shoulder to cry on, even though it's obvious they were trying to manufacture that feeling.

Look, I get it—it’s all propaganda and whatever, but if Harvey Milk is supposed to be this ultimate liberal who fights against every kind of discrimination, from racial to gender, then why doesn't he maintain that neutral vibe he claims to have?

The movie is decent enough... I suppose... and I have to admit, Timothée Chalamet really does bear a striking resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio... in those roles where they both play the same type of character... :P
I recently discovered Oscar Isaac, who played Jack Gilford... he has a rather striking screen presence with that certain queer energy😉