Gun Hill Road is a 2011 drama film directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green and starring

Esai Morales Esai Manuel Morales Jr. (born October 1, 1962) is an American actor. He has had notable roles in the films '' Bad Boys'' with Sean Penn and '' La Bamba'' with Lou Diamond Phillips (1987). His television roles include the PBS 2002 drama series '' ...

. The title of the film derives from the Bronx road of the same name. The film is notable for starring a transgender character who is played by a transgender actor,

Harmony Santana Harmony Santana is an American film actress. She is most noted for her appearance in the 2011 film '' Gun Hill Road'', for which she garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and became the first openly transgen ...

, who was the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for an

Independent Spirit Award The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic glas ...

Premise

Ex-con Enrique (

) returns home after a stint in prison. His wife Angela has had an affair while he was away, and his daughter Vanessa, who is a young trans woman in the process of transitioning and coming out, is navigating her life through a bigoted environment, leaving Enrique with decisions to make regarding his family's future.

Cast

as Enrique * Judy Reyes as Angela *

as Vanessa * Isiah Whitlock, Jr. as Thompson *

Míriam Colón Míriam Colón Valle (August 20, 1936 – March 3, 2017) was a Puerto Rican actress. She was the founder and director of New York City's Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she performed on Broadway and on ...

as Gloria *

Felix Solis Felix Angel Solis (born September 17, 1971) is an American actor, film director, and film producer. Born on the Upper West Side and raised in Chelsea/Greenwich Village area of New York City, to parents that were both born in Puerto Rico, Felix co ...

as Pete * Franky G as Tico *

Vincent Laresca Vincent Laresca (born January 21, 1974) is an American actor. Laresca is of Panamanian and Italian descent. He first appeared in film in the 1992 movie ''Juice,'' as Radames. Since then, he has appeared in many popular films, including '' The De ...

as Hector *

Robert Prescott General Robert Prescott (21December 1815) was a British military officer and colonial administrator. During a military career which spanned over fifty years, he participated in the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War, and the American ...

as Mr. Donovan *

Robin de Jesús Robin de Jesús is an American film and theater actor of Puerto Rican descent. He has received Tony Award nominations for his roles in ''In the Heights'', '' La Cage aux Folles'', and '' The Boys in the Band''. Life and career Robin de Jesús ...

as Robin *

Shirley Rumierk Shirley Rumierk () is an American actress known for her role as Vanessa Suarez in ''Rise'' and as Autumn Cox in ''Manifest''. Early life and education Shirley Rumierk was born and brought up in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. Rumierk ...

as Jeanette

Reception

Critical reception

The film has received mixed reviews. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 31 reviews, and an average rating of 6.06/10. The critical consensus reads: "Equal parts absorbing and educational, ''Gun Hill Road'' wears its heart on its sleeve through tender performances that make up for its narrative familiarity". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 55 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Kirk Honeycutt of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' said in his review: "In his feature debut, Gun Hill Road, writer-director Rashaad Ernesto Green displays compassion for his characters and an ability to create strong scenes to underscore his thematic concerns. But the story itself is too shopworn especially at Sundance where countless films have presented dysfunctional families where parents and offspring are at odds". Dennis Harvey of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' similarly said; "script and direction tend to telegraph all events, draining the competently packaged pic of tension, nuance and surprise". The subject matter of the movie was noted "for the casualness with which it puts a Hispanic transsexual in a black male's bed" because this kind of relationship is rarely seen in movies.

Awards and nominations

Director Rashaad Ernesto Green was nominated for the

Grand Jury Prize A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upo ...

at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

Awards/Nominations

* Independent Spirit Awards **2012, Best Supporting Actress: Harmony Santana (Nominee)

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1525838
Official Site
2011 films Films shot in New York (state) Films set in the Bronx American LGBT-related films 2011 LGBT-related films LGBT-related drama films Hispanic and Latino American drama films Hispanic and Latino American LGBT-related films Films about trans women 2010s English-language films 2010s American films