Milk (2008) // dir. Gus van Sant

Penn flexes his acting muscles in this political biopic.

Milk follows the real life story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn). From his and boyfriend Scott's (James Franco) arrival in San Francisco from New York in the early 70's, to his assassination in 1978, Milk's short but fulfilling political career changed America forever. Milk's political life is narrated to us by Penn via an audio recording to be played in the likely event of his assassination. Starting out as a camera shop owner, Milk quickly becomes an influential character within The Castro area of San Francisco. After giving himself the title "the mayor of The Castro", and surrounding himself with an entourage of supporters and lifelong friends, Milk decides to repeatedly run for office in order to campaign for equality rights - much to the displeasure of colleague and rival, Dan White (Josh Brolin). Milk is a prime example of a finely executed biopic; one that is rightly concerned with very accurate storytelling and honest performances, which ultimately makes the audience empathise with Milk, and root for him to succeed. There is also an accompaniment of authentic 1970's news footage which simultaneously breaks up the storyline, and helps to explain each major political development. The casting is terrific, featuring an abundance of familiar faces (Emilie Hirsch, James Franco, Alison Pill) who are given the opportunity to flaunt their acting talents. Also, Brolin tactfully builds the tension to a climactic boiling point as Milk's supervisor and arch-nemesis. However, it is Penn that is truly outstanding in this empowering and heartfelt role - which he deservedly won his second Oscar for. He fully embodies the titular character, and accurately channels Milk's warmth and likeability, whilst also displaying his fragility and inability to find the appropriate balance between his relationships and politics (something both of Milk's boyfriends struggle to cope with throughout the film). The only minor weakness was, due to it being a story spanning over a number of years, in parts it did feel overlong and you may find your interest waning slightly.

Nonetheless, this is a fantastic, well-written and well-acted biopic of a man who you'll wish you knew about sooner.

The Tree of Life (2011) // dir. Terrence Malick

Pitt and Malick take a transcendental look at family values and the emergence of the cosmos.

The Tree of Life attempts to chronicle the origin and meaning of life through a middle-aged man's (Sean Penn) childhood memories. Visionary Malick, presents us with his interpretation of the Big Bang - from the creation of the planets, the forming of the oceans, and the tale of evolution (even including dinosaurs). Eventually, we arrive at Penn's suburban childhood home in 1950's America, where we meet his amiable, nurturing mother (Jessica Chastain), and his overbearing, austere father (Brad Pitt). With an excellent film-making reputation preceding the reclusive Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line), coupled with endless 5 star reviews and awards buzz, I went into this film with extremely high expectations. Malick's notoriety for precision during the editing process (it spent almost 3 years in the cutting room until The Tree of Life made it to the big screen) only added to the anticipation. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed. There was a distinct lack of dialogue throughout, meaning that character development and interaction was minimal. Additionally, there was an absence of a structured storyline, making the film very ambiguous and subjective, partly as a result of the aforementioned lack of dialogue. The Tree of Life is inundated with biblical undertones and references, which are somewhat rendered obsolete by Malick's highly contradictory, excessively long interpretation of the creationist theory. It all seemed a little bit bizarre and inconsequential thus far. The films pace is painfully slow, and when we finally arrive at Penn's childhood memories, we encounter a large number of scenes illustrating different aspects of the same family dynamic - it soon becomes a little tedious. By the time we reach the incongruous final scene, the levels of pretentiousness are unbearable.

Having said that, The Tree of Life is a brave and innovative film, it just didn't personally resonate with me, but give it a watch and draw your own conclusions.