Stounvoll (film, 2015)

The plot of the film focuses on the fictional character Danny Winters, a young man from Indiana , who leaves his conservative provincial town after others become aware of his secret sexual relationships with a friend. Danny's parents are upset and do not sign the application for a scholarship for Columbia University , where he is going to enroll. Despite this, the guy leaves for New York .

Upon reaching Greenwich Village , Danny meets a group of young gay and transgender people living in Christopher Street . His new friends are forced to make a living as prostitutes, do not have permanent housing and regularly face violence. In the Stonewall Inn bar, as well as in other places where they spend their free time, the police appear systematically and arrest customers. There, Danny meets Trevor, inviting him to the meeting of the Society of Mattachine , an organization providing assistance to homosexuals and engaged in educational activities. Danny begins to live with Trevor, but soon sees him with another guy and decides to leave. On the street, he is abducted by the henchmen of Ed Murphy, the manager of a bar that organizes sex activities for the rich and powerful. Danny manages to escape with the help of his friend Ray, after which they go to the “Stonewall Inn” to talk with Murphy. At this time, there begins another police raid, which provokes a response from the representatives of LGBT people. Contrary to Trevor's persuasion calling for peaceful action, Danny shouts “Gay power!” ^{[Comm. 1]} throws a brick into one of the windows of the bar, which gives rise to mass resistance to the authorities .

A year later, after completing his first year at university, Danny returns home and tells Phoebe's younger sister that he plans to participate in a gay pride . On the day of the pride, he sees his mother and sister watching the procession on the sidewalk.

Development

Emmerich talked about the film back in April 2013: “I probably want to make a small film with a budget of 12-14 million dollars, about the Stonewall riots. There will be reckless New York dudes and a country boy who gets into a gang, and in the end they raise a riot and change the whole world ” ^[1] . The film was announced by producers on March 31, 2014 in Montreal ^[2] .

Casting

On April 9, 2014, Irwin joined the cast ^[3] . On June 3, 2014, Rhys Myers, Perlman, and King joined the cast ^[4] .

Shooting

The shooting period began on June 3, 2014 in Montreal ^[5] . Emmerich initially planned to start shooting in New York, but later he thought it would be too expensive ^[6] .

On March 25, 2015, Roadside Attractions acquired the rights to rent and distribute the film. ^[7] In July 2015, the company announced that the rental will take place on September 25 ^[8] . On the day of the premiere, the film collected only $ 112,414, taking 127th place. Charges film rated as "deplorable" ^[9] .

Critical Reception

The film gathered generally negative reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film collected 10% positive reviews, based on 71 reviews; The average score was 3, 6/10. The following consensus was also developed: “If we consider this film as an ordinary drama, then it is banally boring, but if we consider it an attempt to portray a key moment in American history, then this is an offensively bad film” ^[10] . Metacritic reported that, based on 27 reviews, the film has a normalized score of 30 out of 100, which indicates “generally unfavorable reviews” ^[11] .

Vanity Fair magazine editor Richard Lawson described the film as "insane, spoiled"; he said that the work of the art director makes Christopher Street look like Sesame Street . Lawson said that the main mistake of the director was that he took “one of the most politically charged periods of the last century” and turned it into a “fresh, superficial story of growing up” ^[12] .

Richard Juzvik wrote that the film “is formally inconsistent” and “the film talks about being gay as much as“ Koti Aristocrats ”tells about being an aristocrat . Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune magazine wrote that, although Emmerich “made the film less historically accurate than“ 10,000 years BC ”, the most fatal problem is that it“ picks up every wrong cliché that affects every moment of the plot ” ^{[13] [14] [15]} .

Mark Segal, who participated in those events, told PBS NewsHour :

"Stonewall is not interested in a single story and a single fact that does not revolve around the main character. He (the plot) almost does not take into account women who also participated in the riots and helped create the front for the liberation of homosexuals; This front also included young people, transsexuals, lesbians and other people from different parts of our society. ”

Original Text (Eng.)

"It is a woman who is a protagonist who hasn’t been interested in the protagonist. ^[16] .

In addition to Segal about the film, many participated in those events. In most cases, these statements were negative ^[17] .

Disputes

Before the premiere, the advertising trailer was subjected to harsh criticism from many people due to the lack of understanding of the minorities that occupied an important place in the historical event. In particular, people with black skin, female transvestites, lesbians ^{[18] [19] [20] [21]} . The director replied to such criticism in the following words: “The film is more diverse by racial and sexual characteristics than it seems to some people.” ^[22]

Irwin, who starred in the film, denies that key historical figures have been omitted or changed. “I saw the film for the first time last week and I can assure you that it represents almost all the races and all sectors of society, that it became too fundamental for a movement in a living history,” wrote Irwin in his Instagram account ^{[ 23]} .

Emmerich also said that he made this film not only for gays, but also for people with heterosexual orientation ^[24] .

• Stonewall Uprising (documentary)
• Stonewall (1995 film)

Comments

Sources

• Stonewall on the IMDb website  
• Stonewall on the Box Office Mojo website
• Stonewall on the Rotten Tomatoes website
• "Stonewall" (eng.) On the Metacritic website