Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry

1999 "A true story about finding the courage to be yourself."
Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry

Boys Don't Cry

7.5 | 1h58m | R | en | Drama

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

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7.5 | 1h58m | R | en | Drama , Crime | More Info
Released: October. 22,1999 | Released Producted By: Fox Searchlight Pictures , The Independent Film Channel Productions Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/boysdontcry/
Synopsis

A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.

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Cast

Hilary Swank , Chloë Sevigny , Peter Sarsgaard

Director

Shawn Carroll

Producted By

Fox Searchlight Pictures , The Independent Film Channel Productions

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Reviews

annabellemeyers Powerful, terrible, true. This is the story of a boy who was full of love but could not live because the world was too full of hate. Every performance is subtle and heartfelt. Perhaps the casting would be considered problematic now, but please consider that in 1999, Hilary Swank wasn't a big movie star looking for an attention-getting role. She was a serious actress given the then almost nonexistent to work on something deeply powerful about an oppressed community, and she put her whole self into it. The writing and directing are so empathetic, this is a shining achievement in the pantheon of queer cinema.
KBiker Hillary Swank, after playing the forgettable character of the Next Karate Kid, giving a girly twist to the original Mr. Miyagi/Daniel relationship, turned her career around and established herself as one of Hollywood's best actresses with one of the great acting roles in memory, mine at least. She was Brandon Teena/Teena Brandon, she inhabited the role the way Brando did in his best (think Waterfront, Streetcar), George C. Scott did in Patton, Ben Kingsley did in Gandhi. She was a slam dunk for an Oscar, and everyone knew it. There was no suspense.As for the quality of the movie, it was quite good, IMO. I saw a documentary of the Brandon's story, and the movie, to me, adhered pretty closely to it. The acting of the other characters, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloe Sevigny, Brendan Sexton III, Jeannetta Arnette, was solid, and the air of impending tragedy was palpable throughout.All in all, a solid 8 for me.
room102 * This review contains a spoiler for the movie "Predestination" *I've watched this movie 2-3 times before, but not in quite some time. The movie is just as flawed as I remembered it. There are so many things about it that just don't work.First of all the writing and direction: They are just bad. Here is such an interesting subject for a movie and yet they managed to present it in such a boring way. It's slow, during at least half the movie almost nothing happens and we are slowly introduced to very boring and one- dimensional characters and environment.Now, Hilary Swank: She is a good actress - I came to like her only from this movie and "Million Dollar Baby", which both earned her pretty deserving Oscars. Still, during the entire time I couldn't stop thinking: "This is Hilary Swank" and "this is a girl, not a boy". It's usually a very bad sign, when I watch a movie and can't stop thinking about seeing the actual actor and not the character. It's very distracting, too. A movie should be good enough to have the suspension of disbelief make you forget you're watching actors doing their job. I don't know if that's the fault of Hilary Swank (I do think she gave a good performance), or maybe she needed more makeup/prosthetics or maybe it's a problem with the direction. What I'm quite certain is that she DID need to change her voice - it would have helped a lot.Now compare this movie to "Predestination" (my favorite movie of 2014), with the brilliant performance of Sarah Snook. I'd take "Predestination" anytime over "Boys Don't Cry". Snook's performance, together with the makeup and prosthetics made an amazing character - it was extremely convincing (at least for me), to the point that I needed to go check IMDb the first time I watched the movie (and thus ruin it a little bit for myself) in order to understand what is going on and find out whether the role is played by two actors or just one. If I'd have to choose between Swank's performance and Snook's performance, I'd definitely choose the latter - it's so much more believable and makes you forget you're watching an actress in makeup even when you know that.Peter Sarsgaard is very good in his poorly-written role and almost unrecognizable; Chloe Sevigny is also very good in her poorly-written role.All in all, this is a very missed opportunity, which could have been made into a MUCH better movie in the hands of more capable writer and director.
andycosh34 I often wonder this. This film is the story of Brandon a girl who only feels right when passing off as a boy. What many people don't know is that he has no control over this it's just god gave him the wrong parts. Because of trying to be true to himself and following the girl he loves what follows is him being beat, raped, and tortured. This film shows how Lana fell in love with Brandon not because of his looks or that he is really a she but plane and simple he treated her better then she had ever been treated. This love story takes off but comes to a screeching halt. What John did to Brandon will stick in my head forever it's so hard to believe there is so much evil in this world. I would also like to say this is one of the most important films of all time. This is a film I will show to my kids, there kids and so on because I will make sure that they respect and love people for who they are. I pray for the day when we not only accept our diffeences but we actually celebrate our divercity.