Event

MILK - Members Only Preview

Wednesday, Dec. 10
Reception at 7pm / Film at 8pm

Regular Engagement Begins Friday, December 12

Driven by a brilliant performance by Sean Penn, Milk vividly tells the electrifying story of Long Island-born gay activist and politician Harvey Milk. Milk drifted through his first forty years living a quiet, unremarkable, and extremely closeted existence in New York. Everything changed when he moved to San Francisco and opened a camera store in the citys formerly blue collar but increasingly liberated Castro neighborhood. Freed from the constant caution of his earlier life, Milk became increasingly bold and outspoken. Angered by government hostility and police brutality, as well as his awareness of the growing numbers of gays and lesbians in the city, Harvey bucked both the gay and straight political establishments by running for City Supervisor. Sean Penn beautifully reveals the gradual transformation of Harvey Milk from inexperienced activist to charismatic political leader, as well as the growing sacrifices he made in his private life. Maverick filmmaker Gus van Sant (Gerry, Paranoid Park, Good Will Hunting) restrains his usually experimental nature in favor of a more simple and accessible style to create the first mainstream epic of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement. Dylan Skolnick

USA, 2008, 128 min.