There was a small article in the paper about the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. The event happened thirty two years ago today. The article made me think of the movie Milk and I decided to watch it again, this time focusing all my attention on Sean Penn's Oscar winning performance.
Penn literally becomes Harvey Milk. All aspects of Sean Penn's personality vanish as he takes on the role of Harvey Milk. The majority of other actors can not do this. I am always aware I am watching Cruise, Hanks, DeNiro, Pacino, Hoffman and Nicholson. There celebrity status is always there underneath the performance.
With Penn all you get is Harvey Milk. It is one of the most brilliant acting jobs of the decade and the film should be watched just for Sean Penn alone.
The movie itself carries an emotional impact that can't be denied. Director Gus Van Zant perfectly captured the time and events that took place during the tumultuous 1970's
At The Movie House rating **** stars
2 comments:
Though I have not seen this particular movie yet, I must agree, Penn is probably one of, if not the, greatest living actor and certainly miles better than those big names (although, a young Dinero gives him a run for his money (before he became Dinero)...An actor that I would put a very close second to Penn is Phillip Seymour HoffmaN, an absolute master of the trade (Can we have a PSH Festival?).
I wonder if we would ever had even heard of Penn if he grew up in Venezuela and was as politically outspoken as he is here in the US...No we wouldn;t have, because his socialist buddies would have given him cement shoes. No one ever said absolute jerks can't make good actors, in fact, they seem to proliferate in the field.
You should see Milk. It is one of the best films of the decade.
A PSH Film Festival is scheduled. We will be choosing from a selection of his films. Here are the movies under consideration:
Before The Devil Knows Your Dead
Owning Mahoney
Cold Mountain
Flawless
Capote
The Savages
Synecdoche, New York
Capote
Magnolia
Punch Drunk Love
Doubt
Happiness
State and Main
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Hard Eight
Boogie Nights
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