Movie about camera shop owner who gets to city hall

[David A. Goldfarb]

Okay, he also happens to have been America's first openly gay public official elected to a major office, but if you haven't seen Gus van Sant's Milk yet, I highly recommend it. Aside from the fact that it's an inspiring historical film with fine performances from Sean Penn in a new kind of role for him, and Josh Brolin, there's a long sequence with Sean Penn as Harvey Milk shooting his Nikon rangefinder. Of course there's the requisite hot darkroom scene, and Speed Graphics (used properly, I might add) abound. There's some historic footage mixed in. Honeywell Strobonars figure prominently.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Yes- this is a terrific movie. It does a tremendous job of capturing the mood and feel of a very turbulent time in history, while maintaining the humanity of some very large figures. It's also a great nostalgia trip for photographers, and the historical accuracy of the gear on the set is quite excellent (no autofocus cameras, lots of vintage Nikon rangefinders and SLRs, and a decent showing by Pentax as well). The film has received EIGHT Oscar nominations for Actor, Supporting Actor, Costume Design, Director, Editing, Music, Original Screenplay and Best Picture.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I want to see it. Badly. Adam doesn't, though, and it won't be showing up at my local theater (all they play are the safe kiddie shows). Looks like I'll have to wait for OnDemand.

 

[mbsmith]

the historical accuracy of the gear on the set is quite excellent (no autofocus cameras, lots of vintage Nikon rangefinders and SLRs, and a decent showing by Pentax as well

Nice. So, hopefully, the ADR folks didn't use the same stock hollywood Nikon F5 (?) foley effect that represents the "camera sound"

I really want to see the film. Thanks for the recommendation!