Sean Penn might just be other worldly. I have decided he can't just be an
actor. Maybe he's the extra terrestrial
Spielberg once imagined in his crazy little brain. There it's solved…or
maybe he is really one of a set of sextuplets. There you go, that explains it! Certainly, Penn is not in Milk. For nearly a week, I have been racking my brain to figure out
where he went because he just isn't in Milk as the credits suggest.
There
is absolutely no evidence of Sean Penn in this movie. It is the strangest thing;
I kept looking for trace evidence,
personality Pennisms, something that identifies Penn except for the
characteristic face and familiar name. Honestly,
I couldn't find it. I really tried. It's like he channeled. Maybe he knows Shirley MacLaine. He literally morphed into Harvey Milk. Wonder Twin Powers activate--shape of Sean Penn, form of a transcendent performance.
Oh c'mon, I don't exaggerate. We've all seen good acting. Sure good acting, great acting, we've seen it,
but when you transform your entire being
so convincingly that there is no spark of true persona left, now that's brilliance. Even Meryl Streep
in Doubt -- who was great by the way --
still had familiar Streepisms.
She often does this twitching and wiping of her nose. I watch a lot of
Streep films. These are Streepisms. Even if I see no evidence of Streep anywhere, I can grasp one or two familiar mannerisms. But all I could find in this film was 'Milk', 100%,
not skim, pure 'Milk'. For
these reasons I would venture to say this was by far Sean Penn's best
performance to date. Truly, Penn was better than I have ever seen him. But then again...I
never did see him, did I? I am so confused.
I need to rent What about Bob? Now,
there's a nice light movie in which Richard Dreifuss clearly plays Dr. Leo Marvin and Bill Murray plays Bob. I am simple folk.
These great, character actors just completely
turn my brain into mush. They're too good
and that means I have to think. Ouch it
hurts…it's all too much...
-- Heather Langone
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