Milk and the HRC
Fred and I went with about 600 other Moviebears to catch Milk on Tuesday at the Castro Theater.
I was only 5 years old when Harvey Milk and George Moscone were killed in 1978, and I don't remember it being broadcast on the news in San Diego, so I have no "I was there" recollection of the event. But in coming out 15 years later, I learned about Milk and his legacy very early on, mainly through watching the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (I actually remembered that film winning the Oscar when I was 11, because I used to devour the Oscars growing up. They were my World Series and Superbowl all wrapped up in one.) Early this year, when Milk was filming in the Castro, I could tell by the signs and the attention to detail that the movie would be something to look forward to. And seeing it in the Castro Theater, with all of the history right there, it was the only place to see it if you live in San Francisco.
The history was not lost on the crowd, who cheered on the introduction of the names Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, jeering the sight of Dan White (as played by Josh Brolin) and Anita Bryant. I might need to see it again to hear some of the dialogue, because the cheering (and occasional hissing) drowned some follow-up dialogue out. What did I think of the movie?
I liked the movie. It goes about its business of introducing its' players, shows why Milk would want to become politically involved, going through the numerous attempts he made to win office, pulling off a balancing act of the personal and political, with the first two acts really showing that process, how he lost his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) trying to win office and make history, along the way introducing us to people who helped and hindered him, and the final act involving his complicated relationship with Dan White. There is a good amount of well-placed humor and moments of sadness, and when the inevitable climax of White killing Milk happens, I cried a little bit, even though I knew it was coming.
Having said that, I think my tears came more from the history then the re-telling of it. The movie itself, is good, but not great. It never quite soars the way I personally wanted it to. The one thing that can truly be said about it is the acting is all, across the board, incredible. Penn IS Milk. It's not just the accent that he delivers perfectly, it's the openness he presents when he walks in a room. I'm a fan of Penn's, but not since Fast Times at Ridgmont High have I seen him so utterly likable. And to play this part you have to have that. Milk is someone people followed because he was charismatic, funny, approachable. Someone you could look up to (and Penn plays his flaws too, so he never becomes this untouchable saint). James Franco is wonderful. It really seems like a small part but he does so much with it, really allowing you to see how Scott Smith was drawn to Harvey and how much he loved him. The acting is all, across the board, wonderful, from Josh Brolin as White to Alison Pill as Kronenberg. If there aren't a ton of acting nominations coming out of this movie, I would be stunned. (Personally, I'm rooting for Emile Hirsch, who plays Cleve Jones masterfully. He was the one who surprised me the most.) But as a movie, it's merely good.
I don't mean to hate on the movie, because it's well-done, finely directed. And it will reach millions, and educate many people who don't know the history, and even clearly show the parallels between the Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6) of 1978 and the Anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 thirty years later. Plus, it makes us look good. It doesn't shy away from presenting the time period But I've seen The Times of Harvey Milk a half-dozen times now, and it never fails to make me bawl uncontrollably. The movie Milk never quite grabbed me in that way. I did like it quite a bit, but it never grabbed me in the way I wanted it to. I'd love to see it get nominated for Best Picture (I know the acting nods are a shoo-in) so more people will be curious to see it, but I don't think it would be deserving of the honor to be honest. If you haven't seen The Times of Harvey Milk, you should rent that after seeing Milk to get the whole story.
***1/2 out of 5.
In a somewhat related story:
Yesterday, Fred and I went to the 30th Anniversary Memorial March for Harvey Milk and George Moscone at City Hall. On the way down, we were riding a MUNI car and a young guy holding a clipboard asked us if we "had a moment for gay rights". I looked at the clipboard and saw that he was signing people up for the Human Rights Campaign. I politely informed him that after years of giving money to the HRC, I had decided I wasn't going to be doing so any longer, or at least taking a year off to see what they do. He asked why, and I told him that I've recently gotten the impression that they aren't really doing as much as they could to help gay rights causes, especially considering I've received more interest from grassroots organizations in the past few months than the HRC has sent out in the past year, and I was a paying member.
So the guy says, "Yeah, man, I'm all about grassroots, and that's why you've got to get out there and do things on your own," or something like that, to which Fred and I responded, "Well, that's what we're off to do right now!"
And the guy says, "Where are you going?"
My jaw nearly dropped. So we tell him that we're going to the March, and to honor Milk's memory, and he's like, "When does that start? Where's that at?"
Now, this was probably a volunteer, maybe he gets paid to bring members into the HRC fold. He could have even been straight for all I know. I don't know. But the fact that a representative of the HRC didn't know of the importance of the day, or the fact that this march was going on, and has gone on every year on this day, only reconfirmed my recent reluctance to support the HRC financially. It just seemed like a glaring sign. I'm no longer sure what the HRC really does anymore, other than opening chain stores with their "equal" sign, or throwing fundraisers with $100+ tickets I cannot afford, meaning I can't usually take part. I get their newsletters, and it always seems to be the discussion of matters that have already occurred. There's no anger, no passion. I didn't see them take the lead on fighting Proposition 8. I just don't see them anymore, or what they are really doing. And it's frustrating to watch an organization you once considered a leader take such a backseat to smaller organizations doing so much more with less.
I was only 5 years old when Harvey Milk and George Moscone were killed in 1978, and I don't remember it being broadcast on the news in San Diego, so I have no "I was there" recollection of the event. But in coming out 15 years later, I learned about Milk and his legacy very early on, mainly through watching the documentary The Times of Harvey Milk (I actually remembered that film winning the Oscar when I was 11, because I used to devour the Oscars growing up. They were my World Series and Superbowl all wrapped up in one.) Early this year, when Milk was filming in the Castro, I could tell by the signs and the attention to detail that the movie would be something to look forward to. And seeing it in the Castro Theater, with all of the history right there, it was the only place to see it if you live in San Francisco.
The history was not lost on the crowd, who cheered on the introduction of the names Cleve Jones and Anne Kronenberg, jeering the sight of Dan White (as played by Josh Brolin) and Anita Bryant. I might need to see it again to hear some of the dialogue, because the cheering (and occasional hissing) drowned some follow-up dialogue out. What did I think of the movie?
I liked the movie. It goes about its business of introducing its' players, shows why Milk would want to become politically involved, going through the numerous attempts he made to win office, pulling off a balancing act of the personal and political, with the first two acts really showing that process, how he lost his lover Scott Smith (James Franco) trying to win office and make history, along the way introducing us to people who helped and hindered him, and the final act involving his complicated relationship with Dan White. There is a good amount of well-placed humor and moments of sadness, and when the inevitable climax of White killing Milk happens, I cried a little bit, even though I knew it was coming.
Having said that, I think my tears came more from the history then the re-telling of it. The movie itself, is good, but not great. It never quite soars the way I personally wanted it to. The one thing that can truly be said about it is the acting is all, across the board, incredible. Penn IS Milk. It's not just the accent that he delivers perfectly, it's the openness he presents when he walks in a room. I'm a fan of Penn's, but not since Fast Times at Ridgmont High have I seen him so utterly likable. And to play this part you have to have that. Milk is someone people followed because he was charismatic, funny, approachable. Someone you could look up to (and Penn plays his flaws too, so he never becomes this untouchable saint). James Franco is wonderful. It really seems like a small part but he does so much with it, really allowing you to see how Scott Smith was drawn to Harvey and how much he loved him. The acting is all, across the board, wonderful, from Josh Brolin as White to Alison Pill as Kronenberg. If there aren't a ton of acting nominations coming out of this movie, I would be stunned. (Personally, I'm rooting for Emile Hirsch, who plays Cleve Jones masterfully. He was the one who surprised me the most.) But as a movie, it's merely good.
I don't mean to hate on the movie, because it's well-done, finely directed. And it will reach millions, and educate many people who don't know the history, and even clearly show the parallels between the Briggs Initiative (Proposition 6) of 1978 and the Anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 thirty years later. Plus, it makes us look good. It doesn't shy away from presenting the time period But I've seen The Times of Harvey Milk a half-dozen times now, and it never fails to make me bawl uncontrollably. The movie Milk never quite grabbed me in that way. I did like it quite a bit, but it never grabbed me in the way I wanted it to. I'd love to see it get nominated for Best Picture (I know the acting nods are a shoo-in) so more people will be curious to see it, but I don't think it would be deserving of the honor to be honest. If you haven't seen The Times of Harvey Milk, you should rent that after seeing Milk to get the whole story.
***1/2 out of 5.
In a somewhat related story:
Yesterday, Fred and I went to the 30th Anniversary Memorial March for Harvey Milk and George Moscone at City Hall. On the way down, we were riding a MUNI car and a young guy holding a clipboard asked us if we "had a moment for gay rights". I looked at the clipboard and saw that he was signing people up for the Human Rights Campaign. I politely informed him that after years of giving money to the HRC, I had decided I wasn't going to be doing so any longer, or at least taking a year off to see what they do. He asked why, and I told him that I've recently gotten the impression that they aren't really doing as much as they could to help gay rights causes, especially considering I've received more interest from grassroots organizations in the past few months than the HRC has sent out in the past year, and I was a paying member.
So the guy says, "Yeah, man, I'm all about grassroots, and that's why you've got to get out there and do things on your own," or something like that, to which Fred and I responded, "Well, that's what we're off to do right now!"
And the guy says, "Where are you going?"
My jaw nearly dropped. So we tell him that we're going to the March, and to honor Milk's memory, and he's like, "When does that start? Where's that at?"
Now, this was probably a volunteer, maybe he gets paid to bring members into the HRC fold. He could have even been straight for all I know. I don't know. But the fact that a representative of the HRC didn't know of the importance of the day, or the fact that this march was going on, and has gone on every year on this day, only reconfirmed my recent reluctance to support the HRC financially. It just seemed like a glaring sign. I'm no longer sure what the HRC really does anymore, other than opening chain stores with their "equal" sign, or throwing fundraisers with $100+ tickets I cannot afford, meaning I can't usually take part. I get their newsletters, and it always seems to be the discussion of matters that have already occurred. There's no anger, no passion. I didn't see them take the lead on fighting Proposition 8. I just don't see them anymore, or what they are really doing. And it's frustrating to watch an organization you once considered a leader take such a backseat to smaller organizations doing so much more with less.