SmartRemarks

I’m off to an Oscar party this evening, and what fun are the Oscars without a scorecard? I’ve seen most (but not all) of the nominated films, and done some reading on the various other honors handed out during “awards season,” so let me toss my hat in amongst the many, many other sites offering analysis and predictions, and go on the record with my own expectations.

(Which are not the same as my wishes:  what I think will win and what I think deserves to win are often different things. But that’s nothing new.)

Taking it from the top:

Read the rest of this entry »

I vaguely remember, from my childhood, the news stories about the murder of George Moscone and Harvey Milk. I never really knew nor understood the backstory, though, that made the event so significant.

Gus Van Sant’s Milk, with Sean Penn in the title role, is a wonderful film, the best I’ve seen in months. It fills in that information gap, and inspires as it does so.

It reminds us that we’re all in this together, that gay rights are human rights. And it’s a very human story, in the most authentic sense. It doesn’t succumb to the light skimming over the surface of events that afflicts so many biopics; we feel what drives these characters.

All the little details ring true, with a vivid sense of how much has changed in our culture in 30 years, and how much remains the same. And it doesn’t recite its message with a heavy hand; instead it shows us:  none of us is perfect, but we all deserve the chance to be who we are, to make the most of our potential in life.

Anyone who cannot relate to this film, and the man at the center of it, has a heart of stone. See it.