Milk

So we saw Milk last night at the Landmark Theater in hillcrest. I know its kind of late in the game to see this movie, but there have been just so many films we've wanted to watch since the end of the year that it took us this long to finally get to see it.

First off, the line into the theater was outrageous! It wrapped all the way around the second-floor walkway and down the stairs. And everyone in line was like "La-de-da, lets go see this Slumlord Millionaire movie everyones talking about. but the line is sooo loong. Its about some poor guy winning Who Wants to be a Millionaire, right?" And I wanted to scream "No! It's about love and struggle and hope and the game show is just a backdrop to tell this kid's story, and you embeciles wouldn't have to wait in this long line in the first place, if you had went to see this movie in November, when I begged everyone to go see it! Oh no..you all have to wait until the Academy gives the movie its blessing-then your cramming your butts into the theater, and ruining my peaceful night at the movies! (I realize my hypocrisy in us going to see Milk this late)


Anyways I digress..so after all the hoopla about this movie it was nice to be able to finally see it and make my own judgements. It was a good movie. Fun, colorful and fast moving. You really felt like you were in 1970s San Francisco during all the changes and excitement. And Sean Penn was good cuz let me tell you, the movie was very unabashed in its display of the male gay culture. There are a LOT of sex scenes. It makes Brokeback look like Milo and Otis! But they were completely appropiate to the character and story and not gratuitous at all. And if you think about it, The Reader had three times as many sex scenes. So it was pretty cool to see Sean Penn just jump into this character with so much enthusiasm, slapping dude's asses and whatnot.

My only two gripes about this movie were a) For a movie about homosexual oppression, there were hardly any lesbian women in it. And you can't tell me they weren't an integral part of that movement.

And b)I have never seen a mainstream movie where a lead gay character is actually played by a gay person. Its always some famous straight actor who is lauded for "taking chances" i.e. Heath, Jake, Charlize, Sean Penn, Tom Hanks etc... Are we only comfortable watching gay characters when we know the actor isnt really gay? Theres a good article on this subject here