Rating: 
Summary: Refreshing (for mainstream cinema, that is)
Review: I thought this was a good film. While I am glad that a movie made by the Independent Film Channel received such recognition at the Oscars instead of another mainstream Hollywood studio, the issues addressed by "Boys Don't Cry" have been probed by independent filmmakers for years. Coupled with the fact that the script is based on a true story, I don't think that there is anything special here in terms of subject matter. I'm not trying to trivialize what happened to Teena Brandon (the film's protagonist) or suggest that this film is not interesting; rather, I'm just reiterating the fact that truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and this film made a lot of money off of someone's life story.I do have some specific criticisms, but any reader of this review should bear in mind that I have high expectations of films in general, and especially of films that I have to hear about a lot because everyone is talking about them (sense the bitterness). First off, I thought that the film could have explored Brandon's motivations for her life choices a little more. There is very little here to explain (not that she has to, or should explain) why she does what she does, and I would like to know (by the way, see "The Brandon Teena Story" if you also would like to know). I'm sure she had an opinion. During the scene when Tom and John (the perpetrators in the film) are driving Teena home after raping her and Teena says, "I know it's my fault...I deserved it," or some such thing, made me want to vomit. Did she actually believe that? or was she just saying that to appease her attackers? Perhaps I'm missing something, but I honestly think that the answer to that question is under-determined by the content of the film. Second, there were some cinematographic effects used that, in my opinion, are over- and mis-used quite a bit today. I will ignore one of them (time-lapse photography) because it would be nitpicking to go into it here. But the second, the use of "dissociation" on the part of the protagonist, is not going to just slide by. There are two scenes in the movie (guess which ones!) where Teena "dissociates" and is sort of watching herself as very bad things happen to her. Now, this doesn't happen to very many people. Granted, it happens predominantly to people while (but more often, after) something very bad happens to them. But the effect is really question-begging here, and I thought it detracted from the point of the movie (i.e., the theme of sexual identity) to introduce the possibility that Teena is in some way psychopathological. I must say: I don't understand how the explicit depiction of sexual assault on screen in any way furthers public awareness of this sort of violence. I feel as though, more often than not, such imagery is just fetishized - Andrea Dworkin has taught us this if nothing else. Implication goes a long way. Rape has been depicted on screen for a long time, and it has been done in PG films. I personally knew what was going to happen when Tom and John dragged Teena to an abandoned factory lot, and didn't particularly appreciate having to watch it enacted in detail. This film was originally called "Take it Like A Man," which could be offensive given your interpretation of the scene. A bit on the acting: Chloe Sevigny is great - perhaps her best performance ever. She is truly a gifted individual, and she adds quite a lot to the film. Hilary Swank is good - I repeat, good. No Best Actress here in my view. I was impressed with her ability to walk like a man and to adopt a lot of classically male mannerisms and the like, which obviously took a lot of work. It was a Best Actress role, but it wasn't written well enough. Overall, I don't think that "Boys Don't Cry" is a must-see. Just to back up what I said before: if you want to see a movie that deals with similar issues (i.e, issues of sexual identity), try "All About My Mother," "Glen or Glenda," "Dog Day Afternoon," or "Second Serve," all of which are better films.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Acting, Horrible & Sick Storyline
Review: Hilary Swank desirved evrything she won for this film but the rest of the actors and the story itself shouldn't have won anything, If Swank wasn't in this I wouldn't have given it any stars. It made so sick that this actually happened in reality. One of 99's WORST along with American Bueaty.
Rating: 
Summary: Boys Don't Cry
Review: I am a native Nebraskan, so I followed the Brandon Teena story very closely when it actually happened. I was eager to see the movie when I heard about the production. I was not disappointed! Hilary Swank did an excellent job portraying the young woman who loved and sought love the best way she knew how. Watching this, it was hard to remember that she is actually a female living as a male. Her portrayal was right on the money. Chloe Sevigny also did a fabulous job as Brandon's love interest. She portrayed a person who loved from the heart and not from the mind. The reality was brutal, but very true.
Rating:
Summary: Too many emotions to describe
Review: This film is so incredible, but it's impossible to put the feelings into words. Terrible and amazing all at once. Boys Don't Cry has the love and tragedy of any classic love story, only amplified to a higher caliber. While Brandon Teena's story is violently disturbing, it is also a lesson in true love.
Rating:
Summary: Frustration
Review: I was at first puzzled that director Kim Peirce had placed Lana at the murder scene, but I realized later that it was her way of showing Lana's love for Brandon. Lana never felt deceived even as Brandon, standing in his jail cell fully aware there is nothing he can say or do to hide the fact that he is a woman, looks painfully into her eyes to hear her say, "I don't care." In their own way, it was a cheerful, loving moment of their relationship. Only the audience knew the doom; to Brandon and Lana, it was the beginning. The killings were unjustifiable, but I really felt compassion for the two killers. They weren't anonymous or cold, they were human beings like Brandon, struggling to find their own identities. Peirce painted a vivid picture of their dead-end lives, forgotten just for a moment through alcohol and drugs. The time-lapsed cinematography of the smoke billowing from the factories, the clouds flying through the sky, the characters seemed suspended helplessly in their personal hell. Even as Brandon is savagely raped, we're not asked to feel pity for Brandon, nor anger at the rapists who were once his friends. It was a venting of the frustration of their inability to be what they don't know how -- that only Brandon was able to do -- be loving. From their broken homes, respect for women, or even for themselves, was never on the list. Boys Don't Cry. I didn't cry, but I knew deep inside my heart, I was crying for Brandon, Lana, John, and Tom, and the two innocent victims. It will never be the same.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful and Disturbing
Review: So well done it did not even seem as if there were actors playing roles. I was mesmerized by the authenticity of the setting, dialogue and harshness of the characters. A deeply moving film experience. Not altogether a pleasant one, but that's a testimony to the quality of the performances. As others have said, this is a story about confusion and yearning for love and acceptance. It has little to do with lesbianism and sex. Boys Don't cry is a powerful and disturbing film, one of the best of 1999.
Rating:
Summary: This Boy Cried...
Review: ... and not because of the tragedy depicted. This film stirred nothing but fear in my heart. By the end of the dizzying experience that was 'Boys Don't Cry' - I could only wonder how the Academy found any part of it worthy of an Oscar. Though Hillary Swank is convincing as Brandon/Teena, the circustances of the character are all too pathetic to make a true connection. It seems everyone behind this film had an "agenda" with the American public. "Hate is alive and well in America"... hmmm, I guess we didn't know that. What is even worse is that it fails to deliver the message by focusing on the jealous rage of Tom over the relationship between Brandon/Teena and Lana. This film left me feeling abandoned and cold.
Rating:
Summary: Haunted by, saddened by, and in awe
Review: The team that got this piece together, is genius. I haven't, in decades, seen a movie that had this much power over my feelings. I truly carried it around in my soul for days and days. Even now, two months later, I am in awe.
Rating: 
Summary: a story meant to be told, but not in this way
Review: I think that most accounts of real stories (including this one) are meant firstly, to be informative; secondly, to be artistic. Indeed, everyone should learn about the hatred and violence that is directed at people with alternative sexualities. People who are inclined to hold such views could certainly benefit from viewing such a film. After seeing this movie, anyone with blood in their veins should be able to find simpathy for people like the main character, Teena Brandon: a lesbian who takes on a traditional male gender. However, one must be somewhat familiar with a story before choosing to view it in the form of a two hour film. Furthermore, a potential viewer must also have some previous interest in the subject matter. It seems to me that anyone who would watch this movie would already be understanding of the various sexualities which are practiced today. They are aware of, and disgusted with, crimes committed against their participants. I calculate that these are exactly the people who do not need to see such a gruesome movie to understand the message it conveys. I found this movie extremely disturbing and certainly, the most sad movie I have ever seen. Without the slightest bit of ignorance, I can say, "I did *not* need to see that!"
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: I saw this movie for the first time a week ago when it came out on video. I have been struck ever since, I rented it again tonight and it even rocked me more. Hillary Swank, all I can say is amazing, she was incredible. I was so saddend by how it all ended for Brandon, mostly because he finally found what HE wanted love. I feel that the movie portrayed the relationship between Brandon and Lana as sensual and beautiful, it put things in a new light for me. It is so sad that in today's society that hate crimes are so common, it is hard to believe that we live a in a world that breed people who tie men to truck bumpers and drag the life out of them because of the color of skin, or the people that tie a young man to a fence post and brutally kill him for who he chooses to love, and where children can go into classrooms and kill other children in cold blood and espcially when a person can be brutally raped over and over again and then killed for who they truly are. I recommend that everyone see this movie and I gaurantee it will move you like nothing ever before.
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