Boy's Don't Cry

Review #34
Heart Sharp Entertainment, 1999
Mov No. 36926
Genre: Drama
Rated: R
Directed by: Kimberly Peirce
Staring: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III
Oscars: 1 win (lead actress (Hilary Swank)), 2 nominations (Supporting actress (Chloë Sevigny))
AFI 100 years, 100 _____ tributes: None
Runtime: 1h 58min
Best quote: "You don't have to be sober to weigh spinach." - Lana

Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) is not your average male teen by any means. In fact, most people don't know who the heck he really is. You see, Brandon has a deep, dark secret that he just doesn't want to tell anyone. The secret: He is really a woman, and his name is really Teena Brandon.

No, she is not a transsexual; she is not sick in the head; she has no real need to pretend to be a boy. She does anyway because she likes to do it. Based on a true story, this is the sad, depressing, tragic saga of the last few weeks of Teena Brandon's life.

Teena loves dressing up as a boy, getting dates, and making our with the girls. That is, until she is discovered, and run out of Lincoln, Nebraska. Her only friend doesn't want to have anything to do with her anymore. She is wanted by the police for "lude sexual behaviour." She has no choice but to flee.

Teena eventually ends up in Falls City, as Brandon, where she meets Lana (Chloe Sevigny), who is charmed by Brandon. Lana likes the fact that Brandon is the first boy to ever treat her nice. The two local studs, John (Peter Sarsgaard) and Tom (Brendan Sexton 3rd) are leary of Brandon at first, but get to liking him better later on.

Lana and Brandon like each other so much that they plan to run away with each other to Tennessee. But things go horribly wrong. Brandon is found out to be the fraud that he really is.

This is when clues start dropping: Her "womans" pads are found, and court papers are discovered, too.

It is not clear when, but at some point in the movie, Lana finds out that Brandon is indeed a girl. she tries to hide the fact from herself; she tries to make the problem go away, but she can't.

Once Tom and John find out the horrible truth, they are quick to take action: they grab Teena and take her to a secluded place where they take turns violently rapeing her. They don't stop for a long, long time.

Eventually the police are notified of the crime, but they are so stupid and crooked that they do little, if anything, to charge someone.

Brandon and Lana have only minutes to flee Falls City for Tennessee, but they are caught by Tom and John. By the early hours of the morning, three people lay dead.

Boys Don't Cry is a masterpiece of not only acting, but of storytelling. The whole plot is captivating. Chloë Sevigny as Lana is amazing, and well deserved her Oscar nomination. Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III are awesome as Tome and John, as well, especially in the "rape" scene, as that must have been a very difficult scene to act out.

Boys Don't Cry is a story that needed telling. It is a tagic Romeo and Juliet set in Nebraska: two people, forbidden to love by ideals set by others, try to love but ultimatly die because of tragic mistakes made by everyone involved.

Like Matthew Shepard in Wyoming, Brandon died because some violent men are threatened by any challenge to their shaky self-confidence. When people don't understand something, we naturally fear it; often times we are so scared of "different" things that we shun what is not right, even though it may be allright.

Many people fear or hate Homosexuals. Some, blacks. Hittler feared Jews. You get the point. Is this mentality wrong? You bet. Racism is a sick attitude. Even thought my ideals may differ from your ideals, everyone is same; everyone is equal.

Plot:
Boys Don't Cry's plot is simple yet it takes us to places we never dreamed of. It takes on a jouney of discovery; we try desperatly to find out just who we are and why we do the things we do, but our time runs out before that final question is answered.

Visual Effects:
Few "special" effects shots, but the rape scene and the make out scene were done extremely well.

Kudos to director Kimberly Peirce.

Sound:
Average.

Character Development:
Another great thing about Boys Don't Cry is that Lana accepts Teena for what she is, but John and Tom can't. Eventually everyone ends up dead, yes, but it's the route that's taken to get to that point.

Atmosphere:
Boys Don't Cry will hold you on the edge of your seat as you watch helplessly as Teena is raped, hurt and killed. you won't be able to tear yourself away from the film; it is much too powerful.

Hilary Swank actually makes you "feel" like she is really a boy in most scenes; sometimes it is very hard to tell that she is even a girl until the rape scene later on in the film.

Realism:
Based on the real life of Teena Brandon. Very heart wrenching. Very real.

Warren’s Rating: