Boys Don't Cry

October 29, 1999 0 By Fans
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Still of Chloë Sevigny and Hilary Swank in Boys Don't CryStill of Hilary Swank, Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III in Boys Don't CryStill of Hilary Swank in Boys Don't CryKimberly Peirce in Boys Don't Cry

Plot

The story of the life of Brandon Teena, a transgendered teen who preferred life in a male identity until it was discovered he was born biologically female.

Release Year: 1999

Rating: 7.6/10 (44,353 voted)

Critic's Score: 86/100

Director:
Kimberly Peirce

Stars: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard

Storyline
Based on actual events. Brandon Teena 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. 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 was actually born a woman named Teena Brandon. When his best friends make this discovery, Brandon's life is ripped apart.

Writers: Kimberly Peirce, Andy Bienen

Cast:

Hilary Swank

Brandon Teena


Chloë Sevigny

Lana Tisdel


Peter Sarsgaard

John Lotter


Brendan Sexton III

Tom Nissen


Alicia Goranson

Candace


Alison Folland

Kate


Jeannetta Arnette

Lana's Mom


Rob Campbell

Brian


Matt McGrath

Lonny


Cheyenne Rushing

Nicole


Robert Prentiss

Trucker


Josh Ridgway

Kwik Stop Cashier


Craig Erickson

Trucker in Kwik Stop


Stephanie Sechrist

April


Jerry Haynes

Judge

Taglines:
A true story about finding the courage to be yourself.



Details

Official Website:
Fox Searchlight |

Release Date: 29 October 1999

Filming Locations: Austin, Texas, USA



Box Office Details

Budget: $2,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $73,720
(USA)
(10 October 1999)
(2 Screens)

Gross: $11,533,945
(USA)
(21 May 2000)



Technical Specs

Runtime:



Did You Know?

Trivia:

The director, Kimberly Peirce, first came across the story when reading a long article in Village Voice written by Donna Minkowitz which was printed a few months after the murder.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes:
With all the care that Brandon takes to appear male, this would certainly include NOT shaving his legs.

Quotes:

Lana's Mom:
I don't want IT in my house.



User Review

Disturbing and powerful film

Rating: 9/10

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.