Gun Hill Road

This movie was powerful! The rich, complex, tense family dynamics really drove realism and a deep engagement with the characters. I love Esai Morales, and this has to be one of the most stunning things I have seen him in, as he's working all the dimensions of his character's struggle to face what has changed in his life. My previous exposure to Judi Reyes was through "Scrubs". She really made you forget her old character Carla to display a a woman struggling with conflict and sacrifice. The entire cast was outstanding and authentic. Harmony Santana was just incredible in his transformation. An excellent, excellent movie, can't wait to see it in broader distribution!

The title has so little to do with what actually happens in this film and is so suggestive of some kind of rural drama that I just have to say: "WHAT were they thinking?". (I'm a native New Yorker, by the way, and even I didn't know this was a key neighborhood in the Bronx.) Otherwise, this is a powerful, sure-footed film which very often leaves things not quite spoken, down to the precise, powerful ending. It is, in its way, a pendant to "Pariah", though more specifically about transgender issues. Above all, what makes it work is the tremendous love one feels between all the characters here, well beyond any stereotypes. Harmony Santana has arrived. plain and simple, and arrived with a multi- colored splash. Esai Morales (who gets credit right off as one executive producer) does a marvelous job of showing a father who loves his son with all his heart but has a constellation of reasons for not being able to accept the changes he was not there to see. Judy Reyes shows passionate ambivalence as her character tries to balance love for several different people in inherently conflictual relationships. Everybody, including his prison nemesis (Robert Salzman) and his parole officer ((Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), is perfectly cast (by Sig de Miguel and Stephen Vincent). Its subject and its subtlety make this an indie film in spirit, but it retains all the best techniques of strong, straight-ahead story-telling.

Gun Hill Road is a powerful, courageous and deeply moving film. From start to finish, this magnificently-directed and captivating story feels 100% real and completely original. Gun Hill Road vibrantly depicts large, growing and yet almost completely unexplored contexts within American culture. This film evocatively addresses essential, timely and yet timeless human themes: our identity; our character; our family; our priorities and how we all struggle to balance these.

Obtaining brilliant, genuine performances from the entire cast throughout this well-layered plot, Rashaad Ernesto Green has clearly distinguished himself as an important new director to watch. What most distinctively succeeds in Green's full-length feature debut is the way one can connect emotionally with virtually EVERY character in this film. Esai Morales, Judy Reyes and newcomer Harmony Santana deliver profoundly multi-dimensional portrayals.

The ultimate proof of a sophisticated director resides in their ability to transport you into settings about which you may know little, but somehow enables you to raise challenging questions and emerge with new insights. Gun Hill Road is truly a breakthrough film from an exceptional director.

This is a lovely and sensitive story about family, and how we all have to stand as who we truly are. It is a wonderful mix of emotions and how we can love someone and not want the pain they may being into our lives. The actors work is outstanding, in part because the writer/director is an actor and really knows how to communicate with his excellent cast. It doesn't take you by the hand and lead you from point A to point B, but rather lets you put the pieces together in a way that makes sense for you, and then see how well the throughline you have constructed fits the film. You don't get to just sit back and be mindlessly entertained; it's a much richer experience that that, and all the better for it. Take this journey, and you may never get back to the exact place where you started. You end up a little too changed for that.

This is a film with a Heart! A story inspired by the true events of everyday life. Director Rashaad Ernesto Green managed to write and direct an extraordinary film and making cinema history while discovering an amazing new talent. Harmony Santana. There are these exceptional rare times in history when someone as haunting as Harmony Santana is discovered, and their eternal beauty and youth forever captured in our minds. I can think of only one actor who ever accomplished that, Jaye Davidson. With amazing work from all cast, these film shows that it is possible to make good movies with limited budget and time constraints! A definitely MUST SEE!!