MILK - Blu-ray review

During this year's Academy Awards ceremony I was openly rooting for Mickey Rourke to win the Oscar for Best Actor. I had seen "The Wrestler" and absolutely loved the film and his performance. Sean Penn had received enough accolades over the years and from the clips I had seen of "Milk," I wasn't in his corner for taking home the golden statue. Needless to say, I was disappointed when the envelope was opened and Penn was named the winner. Sure, it was cool that Robert De Niro was the former winner who had introduced Penn's nomination and Penn got some respect when he named Rourke after winning the award, but Hollywood always seems to side with actors who take on homosexual roles and I felt that Rourke was robbed.

After watching "Milk," I am still not fully accepting of Penn's victory over Rourke, but I can appreciate that he was worth the nomination and feel this was easily a better performance than his Academy Award winning turn in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River." The film itself was nominated for Best Picture and the crop of pictures this year that were nominated for the year's top award were lackluster, in my opinion. "Slumdog Millionaire" was the most deserving of the honor, but my interest in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon," "Milk" and "The Reader" was low. Out of the remaining four pictures, the only film I had remote interest in watching was "Frost/Nixon," but as of the writing of this review I now have seen only "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Milk."

Sean Penn's Oscar nabbing performance has him starring as the lead character, Harvey Milk. The film begins with Milk noticing a younger gay man in the subway system and this begins his relationship with Scott Smith (James Franco). This meeting takes place during 1970. The film then moves ahead a couple years and Scott and Harvey are now involved in a long relationship and have opened a camera shop called Castro Camera. This is against the protest of local business groups, but Harvey uses his influence to provide strength to his business and promote gay rights and businesses in the neighborhood known as the Castro. He begins building lists of gay-friendly businesses and his influence with local unions and businesses make Harvey an influential figure in San Francisco.

The successful businessman decides to try his hand at becoming the first gay city administrator and runs for office for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1973. Harvey is unsuccessful, but he tries to run for the same position two years later and secures more votes than his first outing. During this time he meets a young gay man Cleve Jones (Emile Hirsch) who at first seems disinterested in Harvey, but later becomes a very good friend and political partner for Harvey. When Harvey runs for office a third time his relationship with Scott becomes troubled and Scott leaves Harvey to escape Harvey's political ambitions. Scott is soon replaced as Harvey's lover by a young man named Jack Lira (Diego Luna). Finally, in 1977 Harvey wins a spot on the Board of Supervisors after a redistricting.

His time as a supervisor finds Harvey a rising star in the political arena, but he finds an adversary in Dan White (Josh Brolin), a former police officer and Vietnam veteran whose views place the two as rivals and when Harvey backs out of an agreement made with White to support the opening of a hospital in White's jurisdiction, they become bitter rivals. This becomes problematic when White stands alone against Milk in supporting Proposition 6, an anti-gay rights bill supported by popular singer Anita Bryant and politician John Briggs (Denis O'Hare). The fight over Proposition 6 becomes a nation-wide story and White becomes more and more irate over Harvey's success and eventually resigns. Mayor Moscone (Victor Garber) backs Harvey and the tension spirals out of control.

Having now said that I was not interested in watching Sean Penn in Gus Van Sant's "Milk," I will now agree that it is a very good film and while it did not deserve to take home the coveted Oscar, "Milk" is a powerful and important film that earned its eight Academy Award nominations. This is Van Sant's best work since 1997's "Good Will Hunting" and the story by gay activist and writer Dustin Black is top notch. Any time you have a film with such a solid lead actor, top shelf writing, good directing and a strong supporting cast as "Milk" does, you are guaranteed to get noticed and it is a shame that I didn't spend a few dollars to see "Milk" before the Academy Awards show. Of course, I have yet to see either "Benjamin Button," "Frost/Nixon" and even though I worship Kate Winslet I won't be watching "The Reader" anytime soon.

"Milk" isn't a film I would watch repeatedly. It is one of those ‘history lesson' feeling pictures that packs a lot of story and drama into a slow narrative backed by historical clips and a strong message. The message supported by this film is the humility and warmth of Harvey Milk and his desire to represent gays and other social groups through a political career that placed his own life at risk. The film tells the tale of a remarkable man that has been largely forgotten by history by the general populate until the release of "Milk." There was a lot of change during the Seventies after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and social unrest and change was in the winds. Milk took a nonviolent stand and used politics to advance his agenda and he was successful.

Sean Penn is the heart and soul of "Milk" and ultimately I enjoyed the film a great deal. I expected the picture to be a bit more preachy and forceful in its message, but didn't feel that the filmmakers went too far into pushing their agenda. The film tells an excellent story and nicely interweaves historical clips to provide a more authentic feel to the film that does have "Milk" feeling like a history lesson. This is not a movie that you would sit down to watch repeatedly, but it is well worth at least one viewing and then every once in a while when you may have a hankering for a Harvey Milk history lesson. Next up on my Best Picture hit parade will be "Frost/Nixon," and while "Milk" was not on my list of to-watch films, I am happy that I spent an evening watching the Best Actor winner at his best.

Video:

Director Gus Van Sant and Director of Photography Harris Savides intended "Milk" to retain a very Seventies look to the picture to help it better match the historical footage that is intertwined into the picture. The result is that the 1.85:1 framed film is not something you would want to use to show off your home theater setup, but the experience is at least pleasing. With intentional grain and desaturated colors to purposely have "Milk" feel like it was produced during the Seventies, the level of detail is good and colors are respectable, but I'd be hard pressed to imagine this title is any better than the DVD release. The darker moments in the film suffer from the forced aging process and blacks are ‘grey' and shadow detail is crushed. The print used was clean, although heavy in grain. This is a fine example of a film that was intended to not look sharp and pristine and it succeeds, but grading the image is always difficult.

Audio:

Surprisingly, "Milk" arrives with just an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. The only foreign language support provided is via subtitles and English SDH, French and Spanish subs are included. The sound quality of the release mirrors the intentions of the video transfer, although the audio is a tad bit cleaner or more reminiscent of something produced in 2008 instead of 1978. I found some of the crowd scenes to be very good and they provided a nice enveloping experience. However, once you get pasted the crowded streets there is hardly any presence in either the rear surrounds or the subwoofer track. For the most part "Milk" is a front heavy mix with very clean vocals and a warm sounding reproduction of the Danny Elfman score. This is a technically proficient soundtrack, but doesn't pack a lot of wallop.

Extras:

The bonus offerings for "Milk" are disappointing given the film's pedigree. Universal includes the bookmarking My Scenes, although I've never found a use for them. The Remembering Harvey (13:21) is presented in high definition and features many folks who knew Harvey and give a nice remembrance of the man. This was quite interesting, but it would have been even better had it been longer. It is interesting to see how people remember the gay activist. Hollywood Comes to San Francisco (14:32) is a decent making-of fluff piece that is in line with most promotional features. The third and final featurette Marching for Equity (7:58) is more remembering Harvey Milk and looks at his marches by comparing the making-of work to the actual events. Finally, BD-Live is supported and three Deleted Scenes were included for those with Internet access.

Closing:

"Milk" held my interest far more than I had anticipated and Sean Penn put forth the best performance of his storied career and while I would have rather seen Mickey Rourke take home the Oscar, Penn deserved the nomination. The story of gay activist and politician Harvey Milk is an important lesson and the film does come off feeling like a history lesson at times. It is a solid picture, but not something I could watch repeatedly. The picture and sound suffer because the creative minds behind the motion picture went for a 1970's vibe with a look and feel of something produced in 1978. The transfer is technically sound, but dampened by design. The features were disappointing and hardly rang up past a half hour in total length and the BD-Live functionality was nothing more than promotional materials. The film probably deserved a little better attention on Blu-ray, but those wanting to watch one of the Best Picture nominees should be pleased with the release.