Boys Don't Cry

Rating:
Summary: Powerful disturbing movie
Review: Boys Don't Cry is a powerful movie. I personally was seriously depressed for days after watching it. Kimberly Pierce does a great job of making you feel sympathy for the main characters. What I enjoyed about this movie is that it is not a preachy film aimed at hyping transgenderism, but more of tragic love story about unconditional love. It's a very powerful dramatization based on actual events. After reading the book "All She Wanted" and watching the documentary "The Brandon Teena Story" I can say the real story is very muddled and know one seems to be sure exactly what happened. The movie is more black & white. I think Kimberly Pierce wanted to keep viewer's sympathetic towards Brandon and Lana. I prefer "Boys Don't Cry" to the book or documentary, because it leaves no questions unanswered. Questions as to who was involved with what. What you have is a heart-wrenching movie that stay's with you. Alot of that is do to the acting. I've read review's that people have written actually criticizing Hilary Swank's performance. Well I'll tell you they're wrong. Swank's performance is amazing. She deserved every award she got, and her performance is one the reasons this movie is so powerful. The only complaint I have about Swank is that she just a little to pretty and feminine in her appearance, nonetheless I could not see anyone else in this role. Actually all the acting is incredible. The movie is very well done.

Rating:
Summary: Gender "Confusion" Powers a Complex Love Story
Review: Boys Don't Cry seems like a hundred other exploitive teen films as the film credits roll over scenes from Nebraska small town nightlife. Its a world of young working people, not long out of high school. Happy at being freed from parental constraints they seek thrills at after-bar-parties. There is drinking, hanging out in taverns, the occasional beef leading to a fight, karaoke singing, dangerous jousts and high speed chases in cars.

The familiar scenario becomes less so with the appearance of a boyish-looking girl- Teena Brandon- who looks like an extremely un-macho high school male.

Hilary Swank, the actress who portrays Teena, is in almost every scene of this perfectly plotted if suspiciously predictable story.

Brandon lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, but she is having a lot of difficulty there. Her attempts at bedding a member of her same sex are getting her into serious trouble. A male friend who lives in a trailer warns that her behavior will lead to violence against her after Teena is chased to his place by gay-bashers.

Teena hits on a solution. She decides to try her luck with other girls in another city: Falls City, Nebraska. Right away, the young set she encounters there take a shine to her. Teena fools this new crowd into believing she is a guy. At least she fools them for awhile. Our 21 year old leading character has reversed her name to become Brandon Teena.

She takes up with a group of twenty somethings and two older males who gather around the broken household of a divorced woman and her daughter Lana. Teena is smitten with Lana. And gradually, Lana gets interested in Teena.

This is a love story, a long love story. The gender "problem" is childs play for Teena to handle at first. But gradually, the "family" begins to have doubts about Brandon Teena. The story is delicately told. It is a surprise to see the storys sexual details revealed so explicitly. Though the explicitness lengthens the movie, I think director Kimberley Peirce and her co-screenwriter Andy Bienen were right to risk it.

The third act is extremely long. The nature of Teena's romance with Lana is dawning. There will be consequences. The mostly true story has a powerful ending. The scenario is a little too perfect, however. It is obvious the real story has been "cooked" slightly to strike the right moral: Homophobes are bad. I suspect Brandon's real experience in 1993 Falls City was quite a bit more complex.

The central characters are extremely well rendered. The story is superb even if it is a touch too long. Hilary Swank's young man trapped in a girl's body is extraordinary. Her performance reminds me very much of the young and innocent Judy Garland of the late 30s and early 40s. The actress doesn't look that male. Her innocence is thus key to putting over this extremely complex character. Miss Swank does it smashingly. I will be very disappointed if she does not become as big a star as Garland became.

Rating:
Summary: Teena's Story is Touching, Boys Don't Cry is Overrated
Review: I vaguely remembered the facts of the 1993 incident where Brandon Teena was murdered. I was in high school and high school students don't think of much past their own selfish lives. So it is no amazement to me that it took becoming 26 to finally see Brandon's story and learn from it. I think Brandon's life was remarkable and of course I don't understand everything about him but his story should be a lesson to anyone who has ever hated someone just because they didn't understand why they did the things they did, or said the things they said. Brandon's story opened my eyes and exposed me to different aspects that people like Brandon go through. I will always be disgusted by what happened to Brandon but still cannot go with anyone who masquerades and fools people into thinking they're something they are not. Even if we think we are that person in our minds. Anyway, the film is overrated I believe. Yes, the actors were good but I expected more from the way people go on and on about this film. I think viewers confuse Brandon's real life with the film and believe that it is automatically amazing but the film has faults ( that need questioning ). It's hard to watch documentary films because you never know what was really fact and what was just made to do a film. I didn't take the scenes with Brandon and Lana at face value because I couldn't help wondering if this really happened this way. I think the movie should have started with Brandon's early years so we could have seen what she went through as a child before she succumbed to her feelings of being a man. The film could have introduced the characters better. Why start the film with Brandon getting dressed to pick up women if we don't know how she got to that point? I don't know if it was laziness or if the director felt it would be too long to start from the beginning but I think it harmed the film by starting the film in the middle of Brandon's life. We needed to know more. Why try to wrap it up in only two and a half hours when you got so much that needs to be accomplished? I would be interested in another film of Brandon Teena's life. Boys Don't Cry didn't do Teena's story justice.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos all around
Review: I don't really believe in acting awards. Is Hilary Swank really in competition with, say, Annette Bening? I doubt they'd be going up for the same roles, ever. But the Academy Awards do at least help ensure that quality films get made and distributed. And in the case of "Best Actress" awards, they often provide some recognition for smaller independent films, ones that are often woman centered. Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny are nothing short of astonishing in this profoundly disturbing film. They deserve the accolades--and the nominations and awards--they've received. Of course, in a just world, there would also be recognition for the rest of the cast and certainly for director, Kimberly Peirce.

Transgenderism, to use the current vernacular, is not a topic that Hollywood would normally dare touch in any serious way. It took an independent director like Peice to see that Brandon Teena's story would be told in a compassionate, largely unsentimental way. She creates a bleak vision of the rural Midwest as the proverbial "cultural wasteland," but its residents are granted their humanity and their dignity.

Let's hope that Swank doesn't suffer from Oscar backlash and that she continues to find challenging roles that display her range. From what I've seen of Sevigny's work, she has already established herself as versatile, important young actress. I hope that we continue to see good work from the rest of the talented cast--and from a very promising director.

Rating:
Summary: A chilling and disturbing movie
Review: We all know by know that Hilary Swank won a Best Actress role for her turn as Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena, but what many still don't realize is that every single person in the cast deserved at least a nomination.

People who complain that it's a simplistic story glorifying lesbianism miss the point. It's about class issues rather than sex; the people of this town are stuck in lives they hate but can't escape. All the while, cross-dresser Brandon is in their midst, attempting to live out the life she feels she must. Ms. Swank is extremely credible when she tries to pass herself off as a boy, and Chloë Sevigny's just fantastic as Brandon's girlfriend Lana, who doesn't want to see the truth at first, and ultimately doesn't care even though she sees herself as heterosexual.

I'm not aware, personally, of how well the movie tracks the real-life events that inspired it. But director Kimberly Peirce has created something so sublime and transcendent and haunting as to become a modern-day legend.

Rating:
Summary: Facinating and strange
Review: The production quality both audio and video was good. The script was facinating and truely sad. This was not a feel good movie and in fact will leave you angry. Teena Brandon was a self destructive, confused young lady that wanted to be accepted and loved however she could not accept herself. The story is about how she lived and the situation that leads to her death. It was actually very well acted and I was impressed with the finished product. This is a quality addition to any collection.

Rating:
Summary: A moving independent film.
Review: Boys Don't Cry

Score: 91/100

Boys Don't Cry, huh? It's got a director we've never heard of, a bunch of new actors and a story about a sexual identity crisis. It doesn't sound very appealing. But, what cinema-goers around the world have got out of this little masterpiece is much more than you'd expect, and Boys Don't Cry has quickly become one of the best independent films of the '90's.

Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) is the popular new guy in a tiny Nebraska town. He hangs out with the guys, drinking, cussing, and bumper surfing, and he charms the young women, who've never met a more sensitive and considerate young man. Life is good for Brandon, now that he's one of the guys and dating hometown beauty Lana Tisdel (Chloe Sevigny). However, he's forgotten to mention one important detail. It's not that he's wanted in another town for GTA and other assorted crimes, but that Brandon Teena is actually a woman named Teena Brandon. When Brandon's best friends make this discovery, his life eventually is ripped apart by betrayal, humiliation, rape, and murder.

This moving and unexpected story is bought to life by a marvellous script by Kimberley Pierce and Andy Bienen; all the scenes are worth watching and all the dialogue is excellently thought-out. Pierce, who also directs, shows excellent potential, the rape scene in particular captures her brilliance and taut direction. The performances are all masterful; Hilary Swank who wins a well-deserved Oscar for her role as Brandon Teena; Chloe Sevigny who was nominated for an Oscar and should've won, her performance burns in the memory. Also some acting and small efforts that went unnoticed in Boys Don't Cry make it more worth watching, including Peter Sarsgaard's portrayal of the horribly nice-guy-turned bad John Lotter and also Nathan Larson for his haunting score.

Groundbreaking performances, immaculate direction and a stunningly brutal script make Boys Don't Cry an unmissable first feature.

Rating:
Summary: Boys dont' cry...I did
Review: This movie is without a doubt the saddest movie ever made.It'snot exacltly a feelgood date movie.It's possibally the most beautiful love story ever told.The scenes involving Brandon and Lana are genuinly touching.Hillary Swank did such an amazing job as Brandon Teena,a female posing as a male who was brutally raped and murdered because people couldn't accept him.She definately deserved her awards.Chloë Sevigny, was also amazing as brandon's sympathetic love interest Lana.Although the movie changed some key facts that happened in reality,the movie still possesses a horrifying beauty and terror that will genuinly shock you if you have a heart at all.One thing that really caught my attention was the soundtrack.It's amazing.classic Skynyrd sets the perfect mood as does the Cure classic "Boys Don't Cry".But the most heartfelt song is "The Bluest eyes In Texas"It was the PERFECT choice for this movie.I highly recomend this movie.Just make sure you have some tissues handy...it was one of those movies that left me staring at the screen as the credits rolled.THAT'S how good it is.I was always totally openminded about homosexuality but this movie made me stand up for it...Now the whole Matthew Shepard thing just seems even more sickening.This movie just really touched me.I felt angry and sad, both at the same time.Angry at how closeminded the"Land of the free" has become and sad because they were truly two in a million.Maybe boys dont cry...But I know I did.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful
Review: A stunning movie. Characters are multi-dimensional, flawed, fully human. The filmmakers pull no punches in depicting the life of of Brandon/Teena. I have nothing to add to the other review's commentary on the plot. I just want to add my kudos. The performances--all of them, not just Swank's--are outstanding. The movie hits the bullseye. This film is a disturbing and moving experience, not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: In no way enjoyable, but entirely engaging...
Review: For years I hesitated every time I passed this movie in the video store. Was I ready to be emotionally assaulted? Convicted? Humbled? But finally, I was... and indeed, I was, yes, assaulted, convicted, and humbled.

*Assaulted* by feelings of injustice, feelings of rage toward ignorance and cruelty suffered by the story's heroes.

*Convicted* by the fact that my lack of education on issues from which I personally don't suffer (in this case, gender identity crises) could make me appear indifferent to intolerance.

*Humbled* by the realization that, though I seek to broaden my views, there is always more compassion to be instilled and lessons to be found in examples I never considered could relate to me.

A person doesn't have to relate with gender identity issues to be affected by the weight of a film that so successfully entreats its viewers to recognize the injustice of prejudice. Though it may seem fairly simple - a true story in which a girl is victimized once by her own psyche and again by the fear of her lover's kin - "Boys Don't Cry" is an understated masterpiece. Through raw and real script-writing and acting, it ultimately serves to demonstrate the damage done by a community fueled by fear, pride, ignorance and hatred rather than by understanding, compassion, education, and at the very least, tolerance.