Sean Penn’s Oscar-Possible Harvey Milk Puts Face to Gay Rights in ‘Milk’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:39:20 -0700

CHICAGO – Just as Tom Hanks put a face to AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” Sean Penn has now put a face to gay rights as Harvey Milk in the new Gus Van Sant true-story film “Milk”.

While Penn’s Harvey Milk had the physical demeanor of a petite and gentle man, the fire inside the real-life activist for gay rights was both his blessing and sometimes his poison.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

Milk found balancing personal relationships challenging amid his relentless quest to be the first gay politician in California. The film’s story takes place in the 1970s when those who were out of the closet were much less accepted than they are today.

Milk found himself fighting not only the adversity to his political dream because it hadn’t been done before but also a powerful politician in his state as well as an omnipresent national force against gay rights.

Read Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Milk” in our reviews section.

But even more than gay rights, Milk’s life was devoted to the same tenants of newly elected U.S. president Barack Obama: change and hope.

Because of the political corollaries to Obama’s message for change today as well as the brouhaha in California now over gay marriage (and the potential to repeal the thousands who snuck in during the short period of time when the law allowed them), the timing for the release of the film today couldn’t be more prescient.

“Milk” stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, James Franco and Alison Pill. “Milk,” which is directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, opened in Chicago on Nov. 26, 2008.

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Milk” review.

Sean Penn stars as real-life gay rights icon Harvey Milk in director Gus Van Sant’s “Milk”.
Photo credit: Phil Bray

Alison Pill (left) and Emile Hirsch (right) star as real-life gay rights activists Anne Kronenberg and Cleve Jones (respectively) in director Gus Van Sant’s “Milk”.
Photo credit: Phil Bray

Continuing reading for Adam Fendelman’s full “Milk” review.

Actors Awkwardly Impersonate Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin in ‘Mister Lonely’

HollywoodChicago.com — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:51:38 -0600

CHICAGO – The wonder of a filmmaker’s art and perspective is the ability to challenge and reflect the absurdity of our own nature back to us. Few filmmakers have done more to add provocation to that sensibility than Harmony Korine.

In his first full-length feature film since “Julien Donkey-Boy,” Korine explores the hope of miracles and the sorrow of celebrity impersonation in “Mister Lonely”.

Read Patrick McDonald’s full review of “Mister Lonely” in our reviews section.

View our full “Mister Lonely” image gallery.

Diego Luna portrays Michael Jackson as an impersonator in Paris. While performing his act, he meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton).

Monroe convinces Jackson to join her commune of other celebrity impersonators including the pope, Madonna, Queen Elizabeth, The Three Stooges, Sammy Davis Jr., Abraham Lincoln, James Dean and Charlie Chaplin (Monroe’s husband).

In a separate story, a priest is bringing food to nearby villagers via airplane. While tossing out rice bags, a nun accidentally falls out of the fuselage. She plummets several thousand feet to Earth and lands unscathed. This causes a stir in the nun’s order and soon her fellow sisters are free falling for the lord.

Samantha Morton as Marilyn Monroe in “Mister Lonely,” which is directed by Harmony Korine.
Photo credit: O’South

Diego Luna as Michael Jackson in “Mister Lonely,” which is directed by Harmony Korine.
Photo credit: O’South

Read Patrick McDonald’s full “Mister Lonely” review.