Milk



Milk is a 2008 film, that was directed by Gus Van Sant and stars Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin.

Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk's career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco's growing gay community, and organizes gays' purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city's conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk's relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to ban gays and their supporters from public school jobs.

Milk was nominated for countless awards, and won 2 Oscars for original screenplay and lead actor, Penn's second win. It was also nominated for picture, director, and supporting actor (Brolin).

Not to be confused with the drink (what were they thinking using blue type on a white background for the posters and DVD packaging!?) Nor with the film Milk Money.

This film provides examples of:

 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Maybe a smidge, but the photomontage at the end shows that they got the likenesses really close. And the performances are excellent across the board, so it's easy to forgive.
 * Biopic
 * Broken Bird: Jack. Possibly Dan as well.
 * Bury Your Gays: Justified in that this is a true story and Harvey really was assassinated by Dan White, but as far as we know it was not because Harvey was gay.
 * Also averted, since almost every character with a speaking part in the film is gay, and are alive at the end.
 * Justifiedly played straight with.
 * But Not Too Gay: Completely subverted at the beginning of the film.
 * Cast Full of Gay: Justified due to the setting.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Drag Queen: None of the major characters, but they can be seen in the background of all the major protests.
 * Foe Yay: Harvey seems to believe Dan White is a closeted homosexual, but his friends really doubt it.
 * Foregone Conclusion: Harvey Milk is killed. Actually, the film starts with the announcement of his assassination.
 * The Fundamentalist: State Legislator John Briggs and Anita Bryant.
 * Gay Aesop: Possibly a Trope Codifier.
 * Gayborhood: Justified due to the setting, since it was Harvey's base of political support.
 * Homoerotic Subtext: Buckets of it. Rather expected due to the subject matter.
 * Nobody Over 50 Is Gay: Averted. The film provides a fairly wide tapestry of homosexual men. And if Milk had lived he'd be 80 in 2010.
 * Also, he's already in his forties during the events of the film and often jokes about his age. He died at age 48.
 * Married to The Job: What causes a rift between Harvey and James Franco's character.
 * May December Romance: Harvey is in his early 40s, while at least one of his boyfriends appears to be in his early-to-mid 20s (who even starts their relationship by asserting he doesn't date guys over 40).
 * Mononymous Biopic Title
 * Oscar Bait
 * Queer Romance: The film has two significant homosexual love stories.
 * The Seventies
 * Shown Their Work: Sean Penn wore some of Harvey Milk's actual clothes during filming.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Judging by the scenes that weren't archive footage, there was exactly one (1) woman fighting for her rights alongside Milk. Even the crowd scenes had more dragqueens than women
 * Theme Naming: By accident: Milk and White.
 * Troubled but Cute: Harvey's preferred love interests.
 * Waistcoat of Style: Harvey
 * Where Are They Now Epilogue: At the end, pictures of the actual people depicted in the film, and brief summaries of their lives after the assassination are shown.