For the record, I am not much of a Sean Penn fan. While I've always admired his talent, I find his performances uneven and his personality to be horribly grating. I am all for actors being outspoken on their political beliefs but it's another thing to make trips to Iraq and New Orleans. I mean, that's what diplomats are for, you know?
Back to the acting. I loved Penn's work in Dead Man Walking - fantastic performance in an excellent movie. So layered, so present. You saw all of his conflicting emotions and thoughts. He was also great in Fast Times At Ridgemont High - c'mon, he's hilarious in that. I also liked his performance in Colors, a film I'm not terribly fond of but I thought he did a good job. Sometime in the late 90's, something changed. He got more mannered; it was as if he would just throw a bunch of gestures together with no inner life and boom, he was done. Penn's showy and hollow performance in Sweet and Lowdown was the main reason I didn't like the movie. I Am Sam was a mess from beginning to end; poorly directed, poorly cast throughout (except for Dakota Fanning), and bad writing. Sean Penn's performance as the mentally challenged Sam was just a caricature; all tics, no heart. And Mystic River? Penn shouted and overacted the entire film. It was like he was in a completely different movie from the rest of the actors. Also, it's just a terrible film; it plays like the worst Law & Order marathon the USA network could muster. Penn did not bring anything to that role that a whole mess of other actors (Christopher Meloni, Denzel Washington, Liam Neeson -- that's just off the top of my head) could have. And that he won the Oscar over Bill Murray for Lost In Translation is just plain WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong.
So, as you can imagine, I was very, very reticent about having Sean Penn play Harvey Milk. The good buzz started mounting, so Tom, our friend TJ (who was in town from New York for Thanksgiving) and I went to the Arclight on Saturday and caught a matinee of Milk. From the first second Harvey Milk comes on screen, I never saw Sean Penn. I never saw the performance, I just saw Harvey Milk. The amount of detail Penn has in his performance is just great; how he picks up a tape recorder, the strange clench fist Milk would make during his speeches, how he'd walk. Just phenomenal. The film then takes this approach and runs with it. There are loads of character detail for everyone you see; the production design doesn't scream "IT'S THE 70'S!", it merely presents the time. And Penn's performance is exactly the same way. It's like Penn put his ego aside and let Harvey Milk tell his story. It's the best performance I've seen since Jamie Foxx in Ray in the best movie I've seen since There Will Be Blood. The rest of the acting is also great. From James Franco as Harvey's boyfriend Scotty to Josh Brolin as the very disturbed Dan White to Victor Garber as Mayor Moscone, there is not a weak link in this cast. Some have said that Diego Luna's performance as the very needy Jack is a bit much, but it didn't ring false with me at all.
Milk is a great, great movie. So, if you haven't seen it already, see it.
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