Boys Don't Cry
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Movie Reviews of Boys Don't Cry
Movie Review: Well Directed, Incredible Performances
Summary: 5 Stars
There's not much to say about this film that hasn't been said in the other reviews, but I do have a few extra comments.
Swank's performance really is incredibly brave and convincing. I was surprised not necessarily by how good her performance was, but how brave she was in really throwing herself whole-hog into the role and truly becoming a man. Her performance adds another vast dimension to the movie, particularly as I feel that in her performance alone does the character's motivation come through. You can sense just how exciting it is for her to flirt with becoming free of her gender, even if what she's doing is getting in a bar fight or doing stupid stunts on the back of a pickup. You can sense her euphoria at getting a taste of the experience of being a man. This creates the motivation for her character, as the man she wants to be IS the kind of guy who would get hurt and get into the kind of trouble she does. This is one case where the performance really IS one third of what the film as a whole is and I have no problem with Hilary Swank walking off with the best actress Oscar.
I am surprised that so many people at the time said the film was poorly directed. I think that Pierce has definitely watched her share of David Lynch films and uses what she's learned to cast an air of unreality and mythological significance to the events. I thought the sex scene was particularly good, because you see on Lana's face how Brandon is pleasing her in ways that her other boyfriends couldn't possibly. This is much more subtly done than in other lesbian films, where a character would probably have a line like "well everyone knows that only a woman knows what a woman wants" or something else-- this film is more powerful because it doesn't preach or be too heavy-handed. It is not without viewpoint, but it handles the matter subtly.
It's a little frustrating watching the movie just how stupid Brandon is, but hey, it's a true story and the film makes him out to be stupid and unstable from the start.
I'm gay, and as such I found this film's tagline upon release, "A true story about finding the courage to be yourself," entirely disgusting. This is not about finding the courage to be yourself, it's about messed-up people who are at the mercy of forces within themselves that are beyond their control. It's about people who are so undersocialized that they have no way of knowing how to deal with the emotions that they feel. I am so sick of the whole marketing slant of "Being-gay-is-just-such-a-heartwarming-growing-experience" that I truly want to vomit. I would like to think that someone out there could credit gay people with enough intelligence to accept that not everything about being gay or lesbian is a wonderful, warm, and affirming experience. I also think a tagline like that trivializes the emotions and experiences of the characters in a film like this. Luckily the film itself is free of such sentimentality.
Movie Review: A slow paced jem of a movie!
Summary: 5 Stars
Love is one of the components that drive us in our daily lives, without it life wouldn't be the same. In "Boys Don't Cry," that is all Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank) wants. His search to be accepted and love gets him into a lot of trouble because he is a she. To Teena that never seems to be an issue, she knows that deep down inside she is a guy longing for that right girl. Her search gets her in trouble and forces her to leave to another town. She meets the perfect girl Lana (Chole Sevigny) and her group of friends. She feels accepted and just one of the guys. She gets into bar room brawls and drinks and smokes with the guys. Her relationship with Lana blossoms and everything seems to be going great, until her little secret is revealed. She pays the price of her deception with her life. "Boys Don't Cry" is based on the true events of Teena Brandon's life in rural Nebraska. Directed by newcomer Kimberly Peirce, it is one of the best movies of last year. Hilary Swank gives the performance of a lifetime as Teena Brandon/Brandon Teena. Swank won the Oscar for her performance in this film. Swank has a certain charm and charisma that enables the viewer to love her character and not judge her actions. It doesn't seem out of the ordinary or weird that she wants to be a guy. She is a guy, her mannerisms and looks gives the viewer the sense that she was meant to be a guy. That somehow god made a mistake and that Teena is just correcting it. The viewer gets pulled into her charm. You want her to get the girl and be happy. You feel her desire for love and want and cheer for her to get it. Swank's performance gets the viewers to fall for Teena and see who he really is on the inside and not what he is on the outside. The supporting cast is also another strong point of this film. Sevigny gives a strong performance as Lana, a troubled buy loving girl who falls for Teena. Sevigny got an Oscar nomination for her performance in this film. Lana loves Teena for what he is, a charming, caring and sensitive person. Even when she is confronted with the truth, she looks away. His word is all she needs and even after the truth comes out she still loves him. She still goes to him and realizes that her love for him is more important than his gender. She sees the love in him and loves it back with no reservations in her mind. Peter Sarsgaard and Brendan Sexton III also give strong performances as John and Tom. They befriend Teena after a bar fight and introduce him to Lana. They are a rough group with a criminal past, but at first they seem like good people. But they have a wild temper and when they find out the truth, the consequences become deadly. The film has a slow pace, but with good cause. It stays close to the actual events of the story and treats the story delicately. The acting and writing keeps the story going and makes the viewer drawn to the characters and the events that unfoldMovie Review: oh god, what do i say?
Summary: 5 Stars
i've pretty much stopped writing reviews, but this movie drew me back into the ring. i usually have a strong point of view with things i read or watch, and can critique them comfortably, but not with this one. all i know is that i felt disturbed, and slept horribly, after watching it. i think it kicked up some real deep stuff in me. but i still give it five stars, because its quality shined through.incidentally, i almost stopped watching it entirely a couple of times during the film. this was a film that like FEW others i could call TRULY DEPRESSING. the crux of what made it feel depressing for me was that it was about a human being who was so STUCK in their life. there felt like so few options for brandon, like his/her only choice was to live a lie. it's like he/she so wanted to be something he/she wasn't that she/he just had to pile on lie after lie. that's what killed me. it was a story about a person who just SIMPLY DID NOT FIT IN OUR SOCIETY. that's i guess what this film was about. it was a major criticism about our society - a society that just accepts people who fit into narrow little windows of sex, sexual orientation - and certainly gender. god, if i can't even comfortably choose a pronoun (he/she) for brandon, how would it feel to BE brandon...or teena?
i really do think brandon was neither a man nor a woman, a boy nor a girl. he/she was a person somewhere in the middle, and because of our society's small-minded ways brandon just did the best he/she could...and picked a team and started playing. she felt more like a man and tried going that way. i myself am a therapist, and wondered how i would have dealt with a patient like brandon. suggested a sex-change? suggested more self-acceptance? suggested anything? cried?
one other thing that got me, and that i found painful, was that brandon's problems were not just about gender - and his/her gay friend summed it up nicely about the consequences of his/her destructive criminal/lying/irresponsible tendencies, from what i remember. "brandon, you're either gonna end up in jail for a long time...or dead." the moment when the carpet got pulled out from under me emotionally in the film was when brandon was in court waiting to face sentencing for car theft...and he/she turned around and walked out. it was like placing the kiss of death on herself.
so, i know this is a rambling review. i hope it's helped someone somewhat, and i know it's helped me to write it. i just found this film so disturbing, and it just shines the light for me on the fact that we live in a world that makes it VERY VERY hard for some people to live a happy, well-adjusted life. i guess in our own ways it's hard for all of us.
got bless brandon...i wish you'd had better luck.
Movie Review: The horrors of Ignorance- A TRUE STORY
Summary: 5 Stars
I was literally speachless when I saw this movie for the first time, and it takes a pretty raw movie to make me speachless. I also felt disgust, sadness and complete horror that these teenage boys were so insecure and uneducated about homosexuals (or anyone else who is different than them)that they actually commited murder!
This is the true story of a girl, Teena Brandon (Played by Hillary Swank)who was a lesbian and lived in a small midwestern town that didn't accept her homosexuality,
so she met some friends in a town about a hundred miles away where no one knew her.
She came to know a whole new circle of friends who upon introduction believed her to be a boy, and accepted her, so she reversed her first name and last name, and instead of being "Teena Brandon", she was now a He: "Brandon Teena."
And she continued living this masqurade,(not DARING to let them discover her true sex)
She even fell in love with a town girl she had a crush on (Chloe' Sevigny)
She became friends with the girls, and drinking buddies with the guys, and it was like a dream of acceptance come true for her, until they began to suspect her true sexual identity.
Her girlfriend DID stick by her and wanted to run off, It was a hick town anyway, PLUS she had no real family there to speak of,none that really cared,- and neither did Brandon (Teena), except for a brother who also didn't accept her...so the 2 were going to run off, but before they could- tragedy struck.
2 of the redneck boys RAPED her in the most horribly convincing rape I have ever seen on film, and when she went to the police, they took sides with the boys and wouldn't even arrest them, They tried to make the whole thing out like her sexuality PROVOKED the horrendous rape! It made me literally SICK and ANGRY!!
That night before they could leave town, The boys came back and murdered Teena Brandon, and the girl who put her up in her shed while hiding her out.There may have even been another murder, It has been so long since I have seen it, I am not sure.
Not only the girls rape made me sick, but the WHOLE unacceptance from EVERYONE, and how she always had to HIDE who and what she was...and HER acceptance of THIER UNacceptance just makes you CRY.
Although horribly upsetting, It is a must see...I know this movie set a lot of Gay rights into motion, and there are web sites you can go to and read about the REAL Teena Brandon, If you go to a search engine and type in her name.She was a brave and wonderful young girl, and I am glad her death wasn't TOTALLY in vain.What an awful waste of such a gentle and beautiful soul.
Movie Review: Heart-breaking...Sad....Will make you stop and think
Summary: 5 Stars
This was a sad movie based on the true story of Brandon Teena. A female living as a male. Brandon never felt like a female even though he was. Brandon always felt as though he were a male and so decided to move to a town where he could live as a male. I don't uderstand gays, lesbians, or those who are one sex but mentally feel as though they are the opposite sex but I dont have to understand them to treat them with respect and dignity. When Brandon was raped, the cop that interviewed him should have lost his badge right then. He treated Brandon so unfairly and was cruel. I feel he should also be held responsible for his murder. Had the cop done his job these people could have been spared. The cop was out of line in the way he questioned Brandon! Way out of line! It makes one wonder how many other law enforcement has done this same thing. This movie was so sad and heart-breaking....to know there are people out there in the world that will kill someone just because they are different or live their life in a way that many do not understand is sad. And to know we have cops out in the world that are suppose to uphold the law and protect but instead are so judgemental that they cost others their life. The men that killed Brandon, and the others took the lives of innocent people....took a mother from her baby and took these young people from their loved ones and yet they are still living....yeah sure they are in prison but for now they are alive. Brandon Teena was a victim of a hate crime...and the others that were killed were killed because they were there with Brandon. But these two men will have to face God on judgement day for what they did to these innocent young people. AS WILL THE COP THAT MAY HAVE PREVENTED THIS FROM HAPPENING TO BEGIN WITH IF HE HAD DONE HIS JOB! As you will see in the movie. Another thing...the press should have kept there nose out of Brandon's arrest instead of printing that Brandon was female. That really hurt Brandon....just after the press printed this...Brandon was raped! This movie shows the struggles Brandon faced and how mean people can be. An excellent movie but a very sad movie. I found this movie to tell much of the actual events as they happened. I had read the book on Brandon Teena...All She Wanted. The actress Hilary Swank did an outstanding job playing Brandon! I recommend this movie. Watch it and see how judgemental some people are and also how some law enforcement are also judemental...seeing only what they choose to see...and helping only those they choose to help. This movie will not only break your heart but will also make you angry!