- « New DVD releases February 23rd, 2010
- Good Will Hunting / Rounders double feature. On DVD March 2nd. (*********9/10) »
Year: 2005
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Heath Ledger, Anne Hathaway, Michelle Williams, Randy Quaid, Kate Mara, Anna Faris, Linda Cardellini
Eye candy: Hathaway, Williams, Mara, Faris
Director: Ang Lee
Run time: 134 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
The first half of Brokeback Mountain is excellent. The camerawork is sensational, and is reminiscent of some of the best work done by Terrence Malick in films like Days of Heaven and Badlands. Brokeback Mountain itself actually becomes a character in the movie, and Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are almost irrelevant. Ledger, however, gives a terrific performance as a man who is simply struggling to communicate with everyone, including his gay lover Gyllenhaal.
Then the gay sex happens. It’s rather shockingly aggressive, and that sets the tone for the second half of the movie, which is NOT very good. It’s about an hour too long, and we sort of know what will happen before it does. Jake Gyllenhall comes off as more of a sexual predator than a lover, and Heath Ledger spends the last two hours of the film just trying to escape from this man with whom he has had an ill-advised fling.
Brokeback Mountain is much like Iron Butterfly’s In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. It starts off great, but by the two minute mark, we get it. No need to make the song seventeen minutes long, just jump to the end and save us some time.
Milk (*********9/10)
Year: 2008
Genre: Drama, Biopic
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Diego Luna, James Franco
Director: Gus Van Sant
Run time: 127 minutes
DVD distributor: Alliance Films
“If it were true that children emulate their teachers, we’d have a lot more nuns running around.”
Milk is the true story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man ever to win an election for public office in the state of California. He was shot and killed, along with the mayor of San Francisco, by a rival politician in 1978. We know all of this information going into the film, which focuses mostly on 1977 and 78, and the controversial statewide initiative that sought to ban gays, and their “supporters”, from teaching at public schools.
Through a taped statement that Milk (Sean Penn) reads just before his death, we see the movie mostly through flashbacks related to this tape. We also get to see archival footage – Walter Cronkite with the news, Anita Bryant and her crazed crusade against homosexuality – that creates a really great late-70s feel in the film.
The only bone I have to pick with Milk, really, is that it spends too much time introducing us to Harvey Milk. We get to see him hook up with a new boyfriend, move to San Francisco, open a camera shop, and begin to become politically active. But we’re not really getting to know him through all this. The real Harvey Milk shows up when he decides to take on certain local issues, and begins to become a voice for the gay community. I would have been just as happy had the movie started here.
But that’s a small issue when compared to the big picture, which is a very good movie featuring some very, very good performances. Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild) is a former street hustler who joins Milk’s campaign for city supervisor, adn he is almost unrecognizable. He’s also fantastic. James Franco (Spiderman) is terrific as Milk’s steady boyfriend Scott, and I really liked Alison Pill as Milk’s lesbian campaign manager when Scott left.
One actor I found unnecessary and distracting was Diego Luna, who played Milk’s new boyfriend, Jack. A crazy, possessive, lunatic boyfriend, he’s one of those characters who makes you cringe every time he shows up on screen, and makes me want to fast forward through his scenes so I don’t have to share in the embarassment he’s causing himself. But you can’t fast-forward at the theatre, can you?
The best performances in the film, however, are by Josh Brolin and Sean Penn. Of course, the Academy has already acknowledged this themselves, having nominated both for acting Oscars. Brolin is nominated for Supporting Actor for his role as Dan White, the rival politician whose bitter feud with Milk ends with the murder. A brooding, seething presence, Brolin still manages to remain reasonably likeable and utterly convincing. And Penn as Harvey Milk has done some of the best work of his already remarkable career.
Milk serves well as a terrific snapshot of the late 70s in San Francisco. The clothes, the characters, and the actors are all able to create a very convincing 70s gay Castro district scene. The movie also serves as an inspiration for a civil rights movement that still has gigantic challenges in front of it, and it functions as a pretty solid biopic of a very interesting man. I don’t think it deserved to be the Best Picture of the Year at the Oscars, but I do think it deserves to be watched by as many people as possible. It comes out on the double feature with Brokeback Mountain March 2nd from Alliance Films.