Rating: 
Summary: Boys Don't, but We Do
Review: The most amazing thing about "Boys Don't Cry" is not Hilary Swank's amazing performance, or one of the best supporting casts in a recent film, or even Kimberely Peirce's magnificent direction. The most amazing thing about this movie is the heart-wrenching and tragic story of Brandon Teena, a confused and troubled soul driven by his dreams to become the person he thinks he is. As we are drawn into this complex story, we discover there is a price to pay for realization of our dreams, and sadly, for Brandon, it was his life. But the true message of "Boys Don't Cry" lies embedded in the context of the film; no matter how confusing it can be, we all need to live our lives as we see it. Don't miss this important film, and for further information, I highly suggest "The Brandon Teena Story", also on DVD, as a more factual recount of the events.The DVD version was very impressive, with excellent sound and color. I usually purchase DVDs to listen to the "Director's Commentary" and I found Peirce's comments to be extremely informational but sparse in some areas, compared with other DVDs I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: A Brutal, Heartwrenching Film
Review: This movie is easily the most brutal and disturbing movie that I've ever seen. A movie about one person's quest to manifest there real self not just what people see. The performances in this are amazing Hilary Swank WAS a boy not just a girl trying to play a boy. Chloe Sevigny was wonderful as a girl trying to escape her "white trash" roots and make a better life for herself. Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III who play John and Tom play the roles of two guys unwilling to "think outside the box" with a cruel edge. Every other actor who is a part of this profoundly tragical movie acts with a sense of vulnerability(Candace) or the seeming inability to eascape their "trailer-park" lives(Lana's mom). This movie is not for those who like bright and sunny movies ,but for those who want to see the unfettered and unsettling reality that is life.
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing performance by Hilary Swank
Review: Hilary Swank is simply astounding in this film. It is easy to see why she won the Oscar for it. Overall, all of the acting is excellent with strong supporting performances all around, especially Chloe Sevigny as the love interest. The film itself is dark and somewhat dreary and thus, it succeeds in getting its point across. I had seen the documentary beforehand and if you have already seen it, you may find some of the film a little boring. Overall, this is a masterpiece of portraying a segment of our society that is truly frigtening. Anyone needing a good definition of "white trash" need only watch this film. The dvd is very good, great picture quality and features a commentary from director Kimberly Peirce. Several language options are included.
Rating:
Summary: Great movie!
Review: If you havent seen this movie....you must! You will not regret it! This movie really touches your heart. There is so much ignorance in this world, and this movie taught me about respecting other human beings for who they are inside, and not to judge them by apperances, but rather....there charactor.
Rating:
Summary: AN UNFORGETTABLE MOVIE..
Review: Boys don't Cry is one of those movies that stay with you for a long time after viewing it. Just knowing that someone had lived this life, and had to be subjected to the torture and humiliation is so sad and disturbing. There are some scenes that are very disturbing, and I started to feel as though Hilary Swank was really Brandon Teena/Teena Brandon. She really got into her role, and did an outstanding job! She was the best actress of the year in my book , as well as OSCARS. The other actors were also very good. Chloe Sevigny is one of the great up and coming female actresses out there. I think you have to be in the right mood to sit down and watch this movie. Or make sure you rent something funny/cute to watch after it to help get your mind off the subject matter. It's a very sad display of how ignorant people can be. Although i did find this movie quite fascinating, there were a couple of holes to it. 1. It's never really explained why Teena wants to be a man in the first place. I guess you have to know the whole true story, and have watched the documentary on the real Teena Brandon. 2. How could these people not have known it was really a woman and not a man? This really bothered me, Hilary Swank was very convincing but those so called friends must have been high every time they saw her to not know that it was really a girl. Other than that,this is definitly a movie worth watching. It certainly isn't a feel good movie, but worth a look. Watch it for Hilary's performance anyway, she is totally amazing!
Rating:
Summary: Near Perfection
Review: The actors in this film perform in near documentory form, and often it seemed as if they were simply amateurs living in front of the camera. I mean this as the ultimate compliment. Not only Sevigny and Swank, but everyone in this film is ultimately believable. This story of a young woman trying to be a man tears at the heart. This is not because we all identify with someone wanting to change their gender, but because we identify with her struggle to be accepted. We all wear masks. Is anyone totally truthful to their friends or for that matter even theirself. We fell for Swanks character because we see her naivety. She thinks that everything will be alright, and that she can forever live in her deception. The more she does manage to fit in the more we cringe because the reckoning will be that much more destructive. I realize that this is based on a true story, but I did have the thought that if the situation had been reverse and a man had been impersonating a woman the film would have been even more courageous. I do not consider this much of a fault however. The only fault that I could see were the several scenes where time elapsed photography was used (the night sky and the factory). The shots in and of themselves were great, but they did not blend well with the realism set up by the location and acting. Why distract from what is so hard to create in the first place? This is possibly the best all around acting job by a cast in film. I just hope in my excitement over this film I have not overated it. I do not think I have.
Rating:
Summary: Sad but True
Review: An excellent portrayal of a true life story. Very touching, with super acting jobs by Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny. Every portion of the film that Hilary Swank is in, you actually believe she is a boy. She truly deserved the Oscar she received for this role. And if anyone else is interested in reading more about the real Teena Brandon, read the book "All She Wanted" by Aphrodite Jones. It gives the real story about Brandon, childhood, family, and the courtroom drama of John Lotter and Tom Niessen's trials.
Rating:
Summary: CURE ME
Review: BOYS DON'T CRY, director Kimberly Peirce's first movie, is a winner. The film is emotionally violent, the actors perfect and the description of a dozen characters found in a nowhere town of the U.S. frightening. Why ? because they're real, because such people can be observed anywhere in the world, in your city, in your neighborhood, in your family. For a first movie, BOYS DON'T CRY looks very professional with a clever editing, a few arty effects ( sky and lights) well integrated in the story and a sense of the rythm admirable. Great video transfer, a director'commentary, a featurette, spanish and english subtitles and a trailer. A tolerant DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing and powerful film
Review: This is a poignant and powerful film. It is the true story of Teena Brandon, a young woman who is in the throes of a sexual identity crisis. She cuts her hair and dresses like a man to see if she can pass for one. What starts out as an experiment turns into a full fledged alter ego as she is accepted as a man by a group she meets in a bar. The story follows the group's escapades, including Brandon's love affair with Lana, who falls in love with Brandon, thinking she's a man. It culminates with the discovery that Brandon is actually a woman with a dramatic confrontation in the finale. This is film noir at it's finest. A lot of people think that this is a story about courage and lesbianism but it is really about neither. It is about the search for identity; not just sexual identity but the search for a deeper self . All the characters in this film were lost and confused, but Brandon was the only one who realized it of herself. The rest were basically playing out their despondent lives trying not to think of who or what they were. Here was a person they loved and accepted, but who turned out to be the most heinous of deviants as defined by their own prejudices and fears. This is why they were so fundamentally shaken upon the revelation of Brandon's true identity. It left them to confront their own flimsy identities. They were left with no respite from the emotional vortex. Brandon presented a terrifying threat to the way they viewed themselves. They were compelled to change who they were or hate someone they had grown to love. This film was also about obsession. Brandon takes extraordinary risks to live the male role, not out of courage, but out of an obsession to know and understand it, and to see if she can find comfort and a sense of belonging. Likewise, writer/director Kimberly Peirce had been obsessed with this story and researched it for five years before finally making the film. Obsession generally leads to one of two places: greatness or death. For Peirce, at least for the moment, it has lead to greatness in the production of this film. Strictly from a technical directorial standpoint there was nothing special here. The lighting was amateurish, the shots were mostly mundane. The sets and locations were realistically trashy, but it is a lot easier to create realistic trash than realistic elegance. Peirce also bogs the film down occasionally with excessive character development. However, Peirce captures in the story and the filming, the essence of rural lower class crudenes, bigotry and hatred and fear. It is the raw emotion that reaches out and grabs us. Her lens brought into sharp focus the base reality of inescapable despair and deluded hope. Reality often has fangs, and Peirce was undaunted in showing them and then ripping us to shreds. As to Hilary Swank, I can only add one more rose to the bouquet of praise that has been heaped on her. If there was any courage in this story, it was the courage of Swank to take such a complex and disturbing role. The subtlety of her performance was astounding. She needed not just to be a woman playing a man. She needed to be a woman playing a woman playing a man, trying to look convincing yet insecure and unsure of how she was being perceived by the other characters. When in character, her many skillful lapses into moments of femininity, only to snap back into masculinity were masterfully done. For Swank, this was a meteoric rise from obscurity. It remains to be seen if it was just the perfect alignment of actor and role, or something more. I hope for the latter and look forward to seeing her next project. Greatly obscured by Swankmania, was the performance by Chloe Sevigny as Lana, Brandon's love interest. She gave an outstanding performance in another extraordinarily difficult role. Her conflict over the implications of her sexual and emotional feelings for Brandon were sensitively and delicately portrayed. She played the part with a tentative eagerness, just as one would expect of someone whose sexual identity had been thrown into upheaval. It was also no easy career choice to be cast in a role with so many explicit sexual scenes with another woman. This film was stark reality with no holds barred. The filmmaking was technically unsophisticated (and I'm usually a real stickler about that), but I rated it a 9/10 on pure emotional power. This film is not for you if you are offended by lesbianism, graphic violence or profanity. But if you are not intimidated by the naked reality of the darker side of life, this is a film you must experience.
Rating: 
Summary: BOYS DONT WATCH THIS STUPID MOVIE
Review: First off this is one of the most disgusting movies i have ever seen.I think this movie was an absolute disgrace and I dont know why alot of the Americans were obsessed with this trashy movie.I'm glad Amercian Beauty won the awards and i dont know how Annete Benning lost to that lousy actress in this movie Boys Dont Cry.If you got about two hours to spare then watch this movie better yet dont watch it if you go two hours to spare and watch the discovery channel.This movie is just nasty.I dont care if it is a true life story its sick.
|
