Boys Don't Cry (DVD)

Boys Don't Cry (1999) [film only] I heard so many things about the beauty of this touching film that I was really tempted to watch it, and I did that only recently. It represents the real story of a man who lives in a body of a woman called Teena Brandon. Because Brandon would have wanted people to refer to "her" as a male, I'll do so in this review. Since he gets into so much trouble with the police in his city, he travels to Falls City, Nebraska to start a new life, and he goes by the name Brandon Teena. There, he meets a young woman and they fall in love before she knows anything about his female body, which he hides with bandages or ...  Read the complete review

Boys Don't Cry is the independent drama released October 22nd 1999 starring Oscar winner Hilary Swank. The film had a budget of only $2,000,000 & grossed an estimated $11,533,945 but since its release it has gained somewhat of a cult status & I can see why. The film is rated 18 for reasons that will become apparent later & runs for approximately 118 minutes. Boys Don't Cry was directed by Kimberly Pierce who while attending Columbia she read an article about the brutal murder & was so intrigued that she actually travelled Falls City, Nebraska where she attended the trial of the two murderers. In 1995 she made a short film about the murders ...  Read the complete review

Hilary Swank plays Teena Brandon, a 21-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska, who lives under the alias Brandon Teena, believing that she is a man trapped in a woman's body. In a bid to feel accepted by her group of friends, she cuts her hair short, flattens her chest with tension bandages and puts socks down the front of her pants to look more masculine. She hopes one day to fall and love with a woman, declare her secret, and be understood. Boys Don't Cry is a bleak and emotional tale concerned with the subject of sexual identity. Brandon is a character that feels the need to dress like a man to match the inner self. To "him", he is not living a lie, ...  Read the complete review

Main Cast - Brandon Teena: Hilary Swank Lana: Chloe Sevigny Candace: Alicia Goranson Kate: Alison Folland John: Peter Sarsgaard Tom: Brendan Sexton 3rd Directed by Kimberly Pierce Written by Pierce and Andy Bienen Running time - 114 minutes Rating - UK:18, US:R Working Title(s) - 'Take it like a Man' (personally I think Boys Don't cry is loads better and I'm glad that it was chosen.) *Apologies for skipping from describing Teena as Brandon and Brandon as Teena, its pretty hard to explain it any other way... Teena Brandon, who used the name Brandon Teena to pass herself off as a boy ...  Read the complete review

…but not for the ‘hero’ of this film and the real life tragedy that it is based upon. Consider this for one minute before you read this opinion. It’s important. Imagine that if you were a woman and you wanted to act and be accepted as a man, or if you were a man you wanted to act and be accepted as a woman. It might be hard to imagine eh? Ok, here’s another one for you. Just think for a moment how easily you act as your gender is supposed to act. Think about what makes you different from the opposite sex. Mannerisms; the way that we’re supposed to act as each gender; the way we think; the way we accept our genitals as ...  Read the complete review