Milk
“You can’t live on hope alone, but without hope, life is not worth living.”
It doesn’t matter what you believe, or what your views are, you will feel something while watching MIlk, starring Sean Penn. Whether it’s fear, hope, love, compassion, or hatred, you can’t help but feel for what the director, writer, and the cast perform.
The first half hour is very fast paced. It moved a little too quickly for me, going back and forth between Harvey recording himself, videos of that time period, and Harvey’s life at previous time periods. However, after the stage was set and I started getting a sense of each character, the setting, and their dedication, I was hooked. Milk is an exceptional film.
First, it takes a phenomenal script and very talented actors to make a viewer feel emotion toward a story portrayed through an electronic screen. The everyday conversation, the speeches, phone calls, meetings, the entire script was beautifully written.
One scene that stood out was Harvey’s speech (92:37) when he’s talking about the Statue of Liberty and the Declaration of Independence.
It doesn’t matter what you believe, or what your views are, you will feel something while watching MIlk, starring Sean Penn. Whether it’s fear, hope, love, compassion, or hatred, you can’t help but feel for what the director, writer, and the cast perform.
The first half hour is very fast paced. It moved a little too quickly for me, going back and forth between Harvey recording himself, videos of that time period, and Harvey’s life at previous time periods. However, after the stage was set and I started getting a sense of each character, the setting, and their dedication, I was hooked. Milk is an exceptional film.
First, it takes a phenomenal script and very talented actors to make a viewer feel emotion toward a story portrayed through an electronic screen. The everyday conversation, the speeches, phone calls, meetings, the entire script was beautifully written.
One scene that stood out was Harvey’s speech (92:37) when he’s talking about the Statue of Liberty and the Declaration of Independence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw5UwRasras
This speech sends chills down your spine while the lines are perfectly delivered and the crowd goes wild with hope and energy. It puts your mind in the 1970’s and makes you feel how every single homosexual felt.
One can tell there is powerful and effective acting when you can feel what they’re feeling, through a facial expression. One scene that filled my eyes with tears was toward the end, when Alison Pill (Anne Kronenberg) and James Franco (Scott Smith) see thousands of people walking, each with a candle in their hand.
The emotion on their faces was remarkable. They had no lines in that moment, just reaction/expression. It was simply beautiful.
Transitioning to camera work and Mise-En-Scene, I think without these being perfect, the movie would not have turned out so great. In each scene the camera angles add into the acting/characters relationship with one another, how they’re feeling, and what they’re doing. Everything in the scene is set up to execute each emotion that the viewer is supposed to feel. For example, a scene that I really enjoyed was when Harvey was having a meeting with businessmen in a home, compared to another meeting with his other friends, (talking about the same topic). They were all dressed in suits, sitting by a fireplace, every furniture item was in its place. Harvey went into another room with his colleague and told him to have a new meeting later that day in a different place, with young people (“not politicians”.)
Transitioning to camera work and Mise-En-Scene, I think without these being perfect, the movie would not have turned out so great. In each scene the camera angles add into the acting/characters relationship with one another, how they’re feeling, and what they’re doing. Everything in the scene is set up to execute each emotion that the viewer is supposed to feel. For example, a scene that I really enjoyed was when Harvey was having a meeting with businessmen in a home, compared to another meeting with his other friends, (talking about the same topic). They were all dressed in suits, sitting by a fireplace, every furniture item was in its place. Harvey went into another room with his colleague and told him to have a new meeting later that day in a different place, with young people (“not politicians”.)
(Their business talk)
When we see the new meeting, it’s in what looks like a dorm room. It’s dark, there’s music playing, everyone is in street clothes sitting on the floor, and there’s beer and pizza. This really gives you a sense of who Harvey’s character is, and what is truly important to him. We wouldn’t know the small details about him or any other character without the work behind the scenes.
When we see the new meeting, it’s in what looks like a dorm room. It’s dark, there’s music playing, everyone is in street clothes sitting on the floor, and there’s beer and pizza. This really gives you a sense of who Harvey’s character is, and what is truly important to him. We wouldn’t know the small details about him or any other character without the work behind the scenes.
(Their young-people campaign talk)
Even though I could sit here for days and talk about all of the scenes that stood out to me due to the camera work, there were two particular scenes that intrigued me. These were (76:19) when Cleve called someone on the telephone, who called someone, who called someone….etc. The entire scene you see the camera zooming out and things popping up of other people’s calls. It was an interesting way to show that word is spread really quickly.
Even though I could sit here for days and talk about all of the scenes that stood out to me due to the camera work, there were two particular scenes that intrigued me. These were (76:19) when Cleve called someone on the telephone, who called someone, who called someone….etc. The entire scene you see the camera zooming out and things popping up of other people’s calls. It was an interesting way to show that word is spread really quickly.
(When Cleve calls everyone)
The second was (81:07) when Harvey and his team were talking about the campaign in his office, and the camera panned through the room and went through everyone as they were talking. It was an interesting way to see that happen, and it gave me extra perspective about what they were like and how they ran their campaign. For example, they were all eating chinese, relaxing, and talking. There was nothing uptight about the meeting. It shows that those things don’t matter as much as being honest, and getting the point of idea across to the public. This, and other scenes show the true humanity within the main characters.
The second was (81:07) when Harvey and his team were talking about the campaign in his office, and the camera panned through the room and went through everyone as they were talking. It was an interesting way to see that happen, and it gave me extra perspective about what they were like and how they ran their campaign. For example, they were all eating chinese, relaxing, and talking. There was nothing uptight about the meeting. It shows that those things don’t matter as much as being honest, and getting the point of idea across to the public. This, and other scenes show the true humanity within the main characters.
(When film is panning through their campaign talk)
The movie started off with Harvey speaking into a voice recorder, and then it flashed back through important times/stories of his life. There were many voice recorder scenes in the beginning, as well as the end, but not many throughout the movie. One thing that could be assessed is for the movie to have consistent switches to Harvey speaking through the voice recorder. Halfway through, the viewer gets so attached in the campaign and his story that they get thrown off when the voice recording comes out of nowhere. This motif is highly effective, but should be constant through the entire film.
Overall, this movie was absolutely stellar. I appreciated the camera work, the Mise-En-Scene, motif, and acting. I appreciate the film more now because I viewed it from all different angles. I would recommend this movie to anyone, and I will definitely come back to it for a later watch.
The movie started off with Harvey speaking into a voice recorder, and then it flashed back through important times/stories of his life. There were many voice recorder scenes in the beginning, as well as the end, but not many throughout the movie. One thing that could be assessed is for the movie to have consistent switches to Harvey speaking through the voice recorder. Halfway through, the viewer gets so attached in the campaign and his story that they get thrown off when the voice recording comes out of nowhere. This motif is highly effective, but should be constant through the entire film.
Overall, this movie was absolutely stellar. I appreciated the camera work, the Mise-En-Scene, motif, and acting. I appreciate the film more now because I viewed it from all different angles. I would recommend this movie to anyone, and I will definitely come back to it for a later watch.
Authored by: Sara Nesbitt