Review: Gus Van Sant's Milk

Indie filmmaker Gus van Sant (Elephant, Paranoid Park) has crafted a traditional bio-pic about historic figure Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in this country. Sean Penn gives a wonderful, inviting performance as the easy-to-smile Milk, a formerly closeted office worker who, approaching his fortieth birthday, realized it was time to be true to himself -- and his community.

The release of Van Sant's film has added significance after the passage of California's Proposition 8, defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman. Diego Luna, James Franco, Emile Hirsch, and Alison Pill and James Brolin also star. Milk opens in theaters today. Read Marcy's review.