It’s no shocker that when a movie does well, a sequel usually follows, so I wasn't surprised at all to see this campy comedy get a second chapter. It’s a fun new addition to the adventures of Albin and Renato. Even though turning a character-driven comedy into a spy spoof felt like a bit of a weird pivot from the original vibe, you eventually just roll with it. One big difference is that this one moves out of the nightclub and takes the characters from France all the way to Italy. The story kicks off with Albin having a bit of a mid-life crisis about whether he’s still got his "mojo," so he heads to an outdoor cafe to see if he can still turn heads while Renato watches from a distance. Suddenly, a guy running for his life grabs Albin, drags him to a hotel, and hides a microfilm capsule in Albin's dress right before he’s killed. This obviously sparks a huge mess, forcing Albin and Renato to go on the run. The secret service shows up at their place wanting them to help ...
Danny, is a small town Indiana boy who arrives to New York after he is discovered to be having an affair with his football team-mate. Danny’s father who is the coach can’t deal with it and the boy is exiled. He arrives on Christopher Street in Greenwich village and is befriended by Ray, an androgynous, who slowly starts falling in love with Danny. He also gets support from other trans members and hustlers (mostly street living LGBT members). The entire group hangs around the The Stonewall Inn, a mob-owned bar that was regularly raided by the police. This is where in June 1969, one such raid sparked riots by the patrons that lasted several days. Danny meets Trevor who he likes and even moves in with him. Trevor is a gay activist whose team is working towards getting LGBT members their rights. But soon Danny realises that he was just another guy for Trevor. We continue to witness the problems & heartaches of mostly the LGBt street hustlers and by the time the actual riot in Stonewall is sparked, its already too late for any of us to really care.
Stonewall has been billed as the story of a young gay man’s political awakening, and there insetting wrong with that. But then why promote a film with such a title. I, for once, expected more about the actual incident with a lot more facts than fiction. The riots are tucked away in the last 20 minutes, delivered almost as an after-thought to Danny’s character development. There are many sub-plots of other characters, which didn’t really add too much to the soul of the film. Danny acts well, but the scene stealer of the film is Ray, a charismatic portrayal of the triumphs of the trans community and the struggles they faced at that time. Attempting to do right by history, the actual facts have been complicated rather than clearly showing why the cops chose to raid the Stonewall Inn on June 28, and why the lesbians and female-attired trans clientele finally decided to rebel against the harassment they’d been getting from all sides.
Is not a bad movie per say, it really isn’t it but using such an important historical event and turning it into just a backdrop for a regular coming-of-age story is just not ok. (6/10)
Comments