I just got back from seeing Milk at The Castro Theater. Man, what a pleasant evening. First, I got to hang out with friends I don’t see enough, second, I got to go to The Castro Theater, the last of the old movie palaces in the city, and finally, it was a decent film.
Most of the action takes place in The Castro, right outside the theater where I watched the movie, which gave it a surreal, cinema verite quality… I felt like I could step outside of the theater and back into the 70s.
And I could!
In order to give the film a period look, the marquee of The Castro Theater was redone to look like it did in the 70s. It’s all spangly and neony now, befitting a place of such history and stature. You can’t help but smile when you look at it. At least I can’t.
The struggle in the film and the struggle surrounding prop 8 are eerily similar. The struggle of African Americans and the struggle of gay Americans are eerily similar. The film, an unintended call to arms, is a sober reminder that none of us is free until all of us are free.
Sean Penn was fantastic in the title role (but then, when isn’t he?), and the rest of the cast carried their own weight. Yeah, it’s a bit too Hollywood at points(especially the voice-over), and a bit romanticized, but definitely worth a look. I give this film a solid B.
3 comments:
I saw an article comparing photos from some of the real events with shots from the film. Looked like a pretty close re-creation.
Yeah. They filmed it right in The Castro, so much of it wasn't so much a re-creation as a filming of the events where they actually occured. A few of the places were "retrofitted", but many still appear as they did in the film. The Castro is a small neighborhood, so walking back to my car, I passed much of what I'd just seen up on the screen. Nice.
I can't wait to see this movie! It's not coming out here for another couple weeks.
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