Milk (Blu-ray)

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Sean Penn is the heart and soul of "Milk" and ultimately I enjoyed the film a great deal. I expected the picture to be a bit more preachy and forceful in its message, but didn´t feel that the filmmakers went too far into pushing their agenda. The film tells an excellent story and nicely interweaves historical clips to provide a more authentic feel to the film that does have "Milk" feeling like a history lesson. This is not a movie that you would sit down to watch repeatedly, but it is well worth at least one viewing and then every once in a while when you may have a hankering for a Harvey Milk history lesson. Next up on my Best Picture hit parade will be "Frost/Nixon," and while "Milk" was not on my list of to-watch films, I am happy that I spent an evening watching the Best Actor winner at his best.

Video:

Director Gus Van Sant and Director of Photography Harris Savides intended "Milk" to retain a very Seventies look to the picture to help it better match the historical footage that is intertwined into the picture. The result is that the 1.85:1 framed film is not something you would want to use to show off your home theater setup, but the experience is at least pleasing. With intentional grain and desaturated colors to purposely have "Milk" feel like it was produced during the Seventies, the level of detail is good and colors are respectable, but I´d be hard pressed to imagine this title is any better than the DVD release. The darker moments in the film suffer from the forced aging process and blacks are ´grey´ and shadow detail is crushed. The print used was clean, although heavy in grain. This is a fine example of a film that was intended to not look sharp and pristine and it succeeds, but grading the image is always difficult.

Audio:

Surprisingly, "Milk" arrives with just an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. The only foreign language support provided is via subtitles and English SDH, French and Spanish subs are included. The sound quality of the release mirrors the intentions of the video transfer, although the audio is a tad bit cleaner or more reminiscent of something produced in 2008 instead of 1978. I found some of the crowd scenes to be very good and they provided a nice enveloping experience. However, once you get pasted the crowded streets there is hardly any presence in either the rear surrounds or the subwoofer track. For the most part "Milk" is a front heavy mix with very clean vocals and a warm sounding reproduction of the Danny Elfman score. This is a technically proficient soundtrack, but doesn´t pack a lot of wallop.

Extras:

The bonus offerings for "Milk" are disappointing given the film´s pedigree. Universal includes the bookmarking My Scenes, although I´ve never found a use for them. The Remembering Harvey (13:21) is presented in high definition and features many folks who knew Harvey and give a nice remembrance of the man. This was quite interesting, but it would have been even better had it been longer. It is interesting to see how people remember the gay activist. Hollywood Comes to San Francisco (14:32) is a decent making-of fluff piece that is in line with most promotional features. The third and final featurette Marching for Equity (7:58) is more remembering Harvey Milk and looks at his marches by comparing the making-of work to the actual events. Finally, BD-Live is supported and three Deleted Scenes were included for those with Internet access.

Closing:

"Milk" held my interest far more than I had anticipated and Sean Penn put forth the best performance of his storied career and while I would have rather seen Mickey Rourke take home the Oscar, Penn deserved the nomination. The story of gay activist and politician Harvey Milk is an important lesson and the film does come off feeling like a history lesson at times. It is a solid picture, but not something I could watch repeatedly. The picture and sound suffer because the creative minds behind the motion picture went for a 1970´s vibe with a look and feel of something produced in 1978. The transfer is technically sound, but dampened by design. The features were disappointing and hardly rang up past a half hour in total length and the BD-Live functionality was nothing more than promotional materials. The film probably deserved a little better attention on Blu-ray, but those wanting to watch one of the Best Picture nominees should be pleased with the release.

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