Boys Don't Cry

Rating:
Summary: Don't they?
Review: Our society is terribly skeptical and judgmental about differences that dwell within it. Mostly, it is in our nature to reject and fear what is foreign and indistinguishable to us. We flee from the unknown, like cowards. Even children are more courageous and willing to discover the unlearned, new experiences they've been warned to avoid. Presumably, we must be a civilized society, gifted with reason, equity, and compassion. Yet we react like savages upon gaining knowledge of something that we were completely unfamiliar with before, something that happens to be somewhat different from us. We fear what is strange, and it is only our own feelings and perceptions that are not alien to us, and that we are accustomed to regarding as "normal." We refuse to believe in mind's disagreement with nature. What is created by nature, by the highest powers, is not to be doubted or resented. This widely accepted belief deprives us of exploring our inner selves and restricts our freedom to express our state of mind in the open. For example, people are immediately assigned to the gender category based on the sex organs they are born with, and are expected to take on the socially constructed gender roles that are considered appropriate for the members of that particular sexual category. This is usually the logical way to categorize the newcomers to this world, since they are unable to make decisions on their own. However, if later in life people become uncomfortable with the gender that they had been "assigned" to at birth, they should be granted the freedom to make their own choice, and be given the same amount of respect and support that they had before making this choice. Although biologically a female, Brandon feels more comfortable being a male, and therefore dresses and acts like one, and succeeds in deceiving young girls about "his" true - biological - gender. (We must use a male pronoun in referring to Brandon Teena, for his personal choice of identity must be respected.) Brandon saw himself as no other than a heterosexual male. He could make his body sufficiently indistinguishable to allow him to pass as a man. Brandon, the main character, was naturally gentle and sensitive; he was comfortable and at ease with women, who were, in return, charmed by his charisma. He had quite a reputation in being a womanizer. However, after some time upon arriving to Kansas, Brandon falls in love with a girl named Lana. For her, Brandon is a mysterious cowboy-knight, who comes to her rescue. She is fascinated by Brandon's romanticism, and sees him as a sensitive, caring young man - a man that is completely different from those violent and disrespectful drunkards that mostly inhabit in Falls City. At first, Lana knows nothing about Brandon's true gender. It is only later in the movie, when they make love and Brandon leans over her, exposing the indefinite outline of his elastic band-bound breasts through the neckline of his T-shirt, when Lana develops some suspicions. Nonetheless, there is a definite stretch of when she actually acknowledges Brandon's gender, for she does not really want to know; she wants to love Brandon without going into details of his personal life. Romance here is built on veiled illusion, and the unconditional love of two people - Brandon and Lana - embraces this illusion that had been created by them in all its bare beauty. Lana accepts him despite the harsh disapproval and disgust of her mother. Lana even defends Brandon and covers him by declaring that she had personally seen Brandon's male sex organ, when he is first accused of lying about his gender. She trusts him enough, or just wants to hold on to her comforting illusion, not to check his genitals, when she is forced to privately make sure he is not lying about being a male. We also meet a couple of Lana's friends, John and Tom. Tom and John are presented beyond the murderers' scale - as devices of utmost ignorance and ruthless monsters of hell. They seem not to have any goals in life; their only joy is alcohol and hanging out with friends. They are hostile and totally lack manners. But even so, Brandon tries to look up to them, for Tom and John are the only male role models that are in his sight at the moment. Brandon, though with faint bravery, participates in all the activities that his new male friends do, tries to fit in within their male circle. John and Tom accept him at first, although consider him very fragile, weak, and rather feminine, for Brandon is smooth-skinned, lean, and practically has no visible muscles. However, after learning about Brandon's true gender from the police, they, in front of Lana's mother, cruelly bare Brandon of his clothes from the waist down. Lana, in terror and pain, swiftly covers her eyes and walks out of the bathroom where Brandon is about to be humiliated and his undefended flesh is to be exposed to everyone; she chose not to see what was really there. She wants to love the Brandon that she met, and therefore does not allow anyone to destroy her sweet illusion. The two ruthless, spiteful bastards, overjoyed with their inconceivable discovery, drive Brandon to an old mill, brutally rape him, taking turns, and beat him unconscious. As it turns out, when Brandon is at the police station, he was a virgin before the rape, and this violent penetration caused a great deal of pain and bleeding for him. The questions that Brandon is asked by the police officers are obviously rather painful to him and make him uncomfortable. For he sits in the police "torment room" with his arms crossed, tears pouring from his eyes, down the bruised and swollen face; he looks violated and scared like a guinea pig. When Brandon is bluntly asked why he dresses and acts like a member of the opposite sex and what is it that he is going through, he squeezes through clenched teeth and tears, "Gender identity crisis." This is probably the first time that Brandon is forced to face and name his behavior. It was something that he did not want to discuss or look into, even in his mind. He is stripped of his privacy, his integrity, and his human rights. At the end, John and Tom do not let Brandon get away with this mischief and they shoot him. Indeed, we can bravely declare that Boys Don't Cry is not the common "happy end" American movie that we are all so greatly accustomed to - not that we are hungry for tragedy, but sometimes, we need reality, we long to face the inescapable bitter truth. Boys Don't Cry is based on a true story and deals with real human issues of real people that don't always live happily ever after... Also, one of the many appealing virtues of this movie is that not once does it mention the tiresome phrase, that has become a cliché, "I am a man trapped in a woman's body." Personal identity is what's particular about a person. It includes those qualities that distinguish one person from another and the consciousness of one's own being or identity. Everyone aims to be somewhat different from others, to find some qualities within themselves that would make them unique. And yet, most people are horrified by others' shocking differences, and find those people deviant. Gender identity, in particular, is a crucially important issue that concerns people of all ages today, and is especially acute among adolescents and young adults. Since identity is the feeling of who you are, your individual perception of self, and gender refers to being male or female, biologically belonging to a particular sexual category, then gender identity would most correctly be defined as an individual's perception of his/her gender, despite biological factors and social concepts. One's self-perception may not necessarily correlate with his/her biological sexual organs. It is a state of mind. It cannot be judged or ranked, for all of us are created equal, even if we are different from one another.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and perplexing
Review: I have to say that this was one of the most riviting movies of the year. Even thought you know how tragicaly the movie will end you can't help bing pulled in by Branndon's soomth , baby face looks and savy small town ways. I must give Hilary her props. She did a wonderful job as the role of branndon teena. All the actors in this movie deserve so much more. As most movies go this is not a typical love story you would take a date too but it is a love story no matter what. I could relate with Branndon all the way through the movie and it hit so close to home. All I can say is when a movie can make me cry for 1/2 an hour later, it has to be good.

Rating:
Summary: certainly one of the best
Review: You don't have to be middle-class or trailer trash to relate to Brandon Teena's story. His horrific experience, so masterfully captured by Kimberly Pierce, transcends class and gender. It's a story of finding oneself, finding one's second half (Lana, in Brandon's case), and being at peace with one's self in the face of ignorance and bigotry. It's dark, brooding, tense, but the sad events in everyone's lives demand no less than a realistic and gritty treatment. In addition to Swank and Sevigny's exceptional performance, I commend the two actors who bravely took on the roles of Brandon's killers. They've done as good a job as the women, and I find it a shame that they weren't acknowledged in any of the past film awards.

One doesn't watch this movie to relate to the characters in class or other background, but rather to understand or to be enlightened by their experiences. One doesn't have to be someone outside of a private school for rich, brainy girls in Connecticut to feel for Brandon. And one certainly doesn't have to expect European actresses of classic beauty to give life to Brandon's character. Such a way of thinking is so absurdly elitist and certainly has no place in judging a film as terribly moving as Boys Don't Cry. Beter save it for an artsy, snotty foreign film instead.

Rating:
Summary: a beautiful movie
Review: the story of brandon teena (teena brandon) is so moving becuz it's true and you just can't believe that something so horrible could happen to a young person with so much to live for. here we have a crisis of sexual identity and how different people relate to it. the cousin, the girlfriends, the absoloute strangers and especially brandon himself. what you get from this movie is a thrill ride of ups and downs and near misses and such a gut wrenching, tragic end that i urge everyone to see it for themselves and see how horrible some people can be. in this movie you will see how true the saying 'people fear what they don't understand' is. i cried and cried at this movie and if it doesn't move you to react then i don't think anything will. it's a haunting story that will stay with me forever.

Rating:
Summary: The fallacies of hype
Review: This film is one of the most gripping and tormenting films I've watched, even though it's decidedly difficult for me to relate to the people and scenes in Falls City; I am a student attending a New England prep school for intellecutally gifted girls from mostly socially prominent families, and it's hard for me to imagine squandering precious time in bars, loitering around in squalid settings without a single purpose in life.

Also, I take exception to many reviewers' praises about Hilary Swank's acting. She's a good actress, but she's no where close to the breathtaking talents possessed and displayed by the likes of Emily Watson, Isabelle Adjani, Cate Blanchett, Natasha Regnier. Nor does she has the incandescent beauty of a Julie Delpy.

Rating:
Summary: Painful to Watch
Review: I have no idea how a story like this got made into a movie. And I don't mean that in a bad way. This is a supremely intense and emotional story. It is hard to breathe while your watching it, especially towards the latter part.

Even though I did not know the story of Brandon Teena, the story was kind of predictable. Still, anticipating what was going to happen still did not make it any easier to watch the screen.

Hats off to Hillary Swank for acting like crazy. And to Chloe Sevigny who was able to stand her ground with a great performance of her own.

Credit must be given to the director, Kimberly Pierce, who managed to bring this story to screen and to infuse such a sad tale with some hope and happiness.

Watch this movie. It will not be comfortable but you will get a lot out of it.

Rating:
Summary: I can't put into words...
Review: This film is by far the most amazing movie I've ever seen. All the wonderful reviewers here that describe the movie in depth, find just the right words to express its meaningful and worthwhile storyline. I was touched immensely by this film, as I'm sure many people were, and found Brandon/Teena, male or female, the most soulful and pure person I have ever, in my life, encountered. Swank and Sevingy put their hearts and souls into their characters, and it shows. After seeing the movie, I listened to the cd. And even now, having listened to it about a BILLION times, I still cry every time I hear "The Bluest Eyes in Texas". I do not recommend this movie for everyone, although I think everyone in the world SHOULD see it, but for those who want to see a movie with a very important message, this is indeed, a MUST SEE. :)

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!
Review: After seeing this movie, it is obvious why Hilary Swank won best actress. Her performance is so compelling you would believe that she IS Brandon Teena.

BDC is a very powerful true story of a girl faced with a sexual-identity crisis. Plot is not the key element of this movie. The ending to the story is obvious, but, afterall, in the previews you probably saw the word "hate crimes" which often involve murder. What the key element is is emotion and connecting you with the characters themselves. I have not seen such great performances since American History X where Edward Norton's performance was so convincing. . .

After I watched BDC I wondered, how could this be overlooked for a best picture nomination? While I thought The Sixth Sense was a profound movie, Boys Don't Cry could have easily taken its place in the category.

Rating:
Summary: Factually Inaccurate "Agenda" Movie Hardly Worth Watching
Review: The amazon.com reviewer wrote that "Boys Don't Cry" was "based on" the murder of Teena Brandon. That is being too kind. The picture takes more than a few artistic liberties and turns what could have been a riveting and heart-wrenching look into the short life of Teena Brandon into some sort of transgender agenda piece, portraying Brandon as a martyr for the cause. This movie is overrun by factual inaccuracies. I say this because I am quite familiar with the facts of this case and know many of the people involved.

Lana Tisdel, for instance, is portrayed as knowing but not not caring that Brandon Teena was in fact Teena Brandon. Tisdel herself said she did not know. Teena Brandon's own mother filed a suit against Fox because of the way her daughter was portrayed in the film. Furthermore, two innocent people were murdered with Brandon, neither of which was the "Candace" character who is killed along with Brandon in the movie.

On balance and in the film's defense I will say that it did a very good (but overly brief) job of portraying the indifference shown by Sheriff Charles Laux to Brandon's rape and the rather accusatory method by which he questioned her.

Technically, the acting performances are quite good, especially those of Hilary Swank and Chloe Sevigny. Whether Swank's performance was Oscar-worthy is rather questionable from my point of view, as I saw all of the nominated performances and thought that Annette Bening in "American Beauty" was much more deserving of the award.

This would have been a very good motion picture had director Kimberly Pierce not tried to turn it into some sort of homage to transgenderism. Those who want to know what really happened in this case would be well-advised to check out the independently produced "The Brandon Teena Story", which presented the facts without the distortion of fact and glaring inaccuracies that Pierce relies on to make "Boys Don't Cry" work. Had she done so, Brandon would have come across as an individual who lived her life deceiving others and who lost that life when the deceit became known. The real tragedy in this film is that it trvializes the lives of Phillip Devine and Lisa Lambert, who were killed along with Brandon.

Rating:
Summary: A story of two's
Review: The Nebraskan-Mid-Western landscapes filmed showed big skies and empty highways, representing a flight to freedom, from the stagnation of mundane work, and a steady stream of alcohol, bars, and cigarettes. From Lincoln to Falls City, seventy miles seperated the past from the future: from Teena Brandon -- a woman -- to Brandon Teena -- a man.

Hilary Swank portrayed a woman who suffered, technically, from a "sexual identity crisis," but it seemed to be more like a man who doesn't know why he was born with some defects. The duality of Brandon is obvious. And, it is the central focus of the excellent film, "Boys Don't Cry." But the subtle scenes in-between defined what kind of human being Brandon really was: hurt at being called a lesbian, annoyed with menstration, and finding happiness at being one of the guys.

This is an emotionally difficult movie to watch; some of the scenes are graphic and overt, while others are subtle and tragic. But there are times when love is represented so well, that it makes one realize how much innocence has been lost in the world; how it is to be with your first, not thinking about anything else, and looking up at the stars on the clearest of country nights.