Boys Don't Cry - Film Review

Boys Don't Cry - Film Review.

Boy's Don't Cry is a romantic drama, directed by Kimberly Peirce. It's a dramatised movie about the real life story of Brandon Teena - a transexual teenager who is beaten, murdered and raped by his friends when they realise he is actually a female.

In the movie, Brandon moves to Falls City at the age of 20. She is instantly assumed and greeted as a male. She is warned by a friend that 'sexual outsiders' aren't looked upon nicely by the people of Falls City, but Brandon was accustomed to her new life. She is seen as a male heartthrob, stealing the hearts of women, although they thought that she was male. 

Brandon meets teen Lana and becomes romantically involved. She becomes close with the family, including Lana's mothers ex-con. Brandon is taken under the wing of John and his friend Tom and is seen as one of their own; one of the lads. However, when Brandon gets arrested for a traffic violation her secret is revealed. Lana stands by her side, but John and Tom feel betrayed and resort to violence against Brandon. 

This is film noir at it's finest. A lot of people would say 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.  Here was a person they loved and accepted, but once the truth escaped the opinions people had changed. It could be argued that people turned to new negative opinions of Brandon because she made them question themselves, and they were scared for what could be on the inside for them if they looked into it. Instead, people were compelled to change themselves or, more simply, to hate someone that they had grown to love.

This film was also about obsession. Brandon takes extraordinary risks to live the male role, not just 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. Sadly for Brendon, it lead to death. This is another theme that could be explored.

The set and lighting for this movie was nothing special. It was basic, suggesting that people should be only watching the actors and the story, not interested in the extras. The shots were quite mundane and the lighting was always similar, showing mostly darkness but often hinting the idea of light upon scenes. This could suggest the shadow of life that Brandon is walking in, but also the shadow other people don't know about themselves. Either that, or it could suggest that Brandon is trying to escape his fears and find freedom, and the small amounts of light creeping through are therefore representative of this. Peirce captures the story through filming, the essence of rural lower class crudeness, bigotry and hatred and fear, creating the raw emotion that reaches out and grabs us.

There was more courage in this story, the courage of Hilary 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. She was so convincing when swapping between the roles of femininity and masculinity that you almost didn't realise it was happening. After a while, you forgot that Brandon was female, and understood her as the male that the other characters in the film thought she was.

Makeup and hair is used well throughout the film, with concept and reference to the style of the 1990's; what we know as the anti-fashion era. However, styling is reflected extremely well through Brandon - especially with the concept of the actress being a female portraying a male. Jane Choi and her crew of makeup artists were able to effectively represent the male aspects of Swanks face, rounding cheekbones and using mainly a base of foundation to keep natural. But it was the work of the key hair stylist Renee Lecuyer and crew, and the baveness of Swank to have her hair cut short, that made the overall look by styling the typical boyish cut. It framed Swanks face perfectly, bringing out a sense of masculinity to her features. Without knowing who Swank was, I think she makes a very convincing boy. The special effects are also effective, looking realistic and building heartwarming sympathy towards Brandon.

The film is excellent due to its pure emotional power. Although some viewers may be turned off at the high volume of profanity and rape sequences, this film should be given a chance if not only for the fact of it being a true story, but also for it's respect to a unique and unfairly misjudged human being who didn't live his life to the fullest. 

Interesing Facts:

Tisdel sued the producers of the film for unauthorized use of her name and likeness before the film's release. She claimed the film depicted her as "lazy, white trash, and a skanky snake". Tisdel also claimed that the film falsely portrayed that she continued the relationship with Teena after she discovered Teena was anatomically female. She eventually settled her lawsuit against the movie's distributor for an undisclosed sum.

JoAnn Brandon publicly objected to the media referring to her child as "he" and "Brandon". Following Hilary Swank's Oscar acceptance speech, JoAnn Brandon took offense at Swank for thanking "Brandon Teena" – the name Teena Brandon adopted – and for referring to her as a man. "That set me off," said JoAnn Brandon. "She should not stand up there and thank my child. I get tired of people taking credit for what they don't know."



5 years after the famous hate crime against Brandon Teena, another tragedy became famous to America. Teenager Matthew Shepard was tortured, beaten and murdered on accounts that he was gay. The crime is branded as 'homicide'. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.