Movie Reviews

Boys Don’t Cry

From the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival:

Starring: Hilary Swank, Chloe Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendan Sexton III, Alison Folland, Alicia Goranson, Matt McGrath, Rob Campbell, Jeanette Arnette. Directed by Kimberly Pierce.

 This was a very harsh and brutal film. I may have thought it better had it not left me so utterly depressed at the end - not at all what I had planned for the evening. What disturbed me most was the realization during the most violent scene that this was based on a true story.

Teena Brandon grows up with the desire to be a boy. By age 20 she is going by "Brandon", saving money for a sex change operation, and to all of the world is just "one of the guys". Moving to a small, redneck town in Nebraska, Brandon makes friends, starts dating the the girl of his dreams, and is loving life. After a few bad choices and mistakes, Brandon's world begins to rapidly fall apart as his new friends discover the truth.

The movie's climax is an explosive scene of violence against Brandon that is incredibly hard to watch. Kimberly Pierce created a movie that tells a story in a brutally honest way. And although the story of senseless acts and bigotry is an important one to be told, it is almost too violent to appreciate.
(Trixie, Sept. 1999)

To check out our other Past Movie Reviews, click on a letter below:

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [J] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [X] [Y] [Z]

send this review to a friend

current movie reviews          past movie reviews