Manohla Dargis on "Milk"
The New York Times' Manohla Dargis, probably the contemporary critic whose work I most respect, said this in her year end write-up about Gus Van Sant's Milk:Mr. Van Sant’s other film, of course, is “Milk,” a touching if aesthetically unremarkable biography of Harvey Milk, the assassinated gay rights pioneer. I like “Milk,” which has a strong, showy, often moving performance from Sean Penn as Milk and one gorgeously directed and choreographed sequence — shot by the great cinematographer Harris Savides — in which Josh Brolin, oiled in flop sweat and hair grease as Milk’s killer, Dan White, walks alone through a series of grim institutional corridors that put the killer’s existential isolation and desperate journey into bold visual terms. “Milk” is undeniably moving, but it earns most of its power from its historical resonance and because it holds up a mirror to another charismatic community organizer who rose from the streets on a message of hope.I don't think I have heard anyone put it better. Milk is a fine film, and a very moving one, but it just misses its shot at greatness by being, quite honestly, just another biopic with a great story. It is well told, and well performed, and socially relevant, but artistically unremarkable.
Her top ten list is also one of the best around:
- Happy-Go-Lucky
- Synecdoche, New York
- Alexandra
- Flight of the Red Balloon
- Silent Light
- Paranoid Park
- The Dark Knight
- Encounters at the End of the World
- Still Life
- Wendy and Lucy
Comments
Dargis is a critic I have great respect for, and have no problem sharing her opinion if I find it particularly incisive.
I am confident enough in myself to know when someone has said something better than I could have, and I always appreciate it when another critic helps me see something in a new or different light.
That is, I think, the whole point of film criticism in the first place.
Matt was doing this site and film lovers in general a great service by bringing in Ms. Dargis's perceptive review.