Boys Don't Cry (1999)

As a man who's seen a million girls faces, I couldn't believe for 1 second that ms swank wasn't a girl. Her acting and body motions also betray her, but her face is that of a girl, and regardless of her acting, her face is so feminine that it makes me wonder what was going on in the casting director's mind. The story was fine, but it was ruined for me becouse of this casting error.

This is a disgusting mess of a film about repulsive people. It's a badly-acted film about underclass, violent, reckless idiots.It's a disgrace that Hilary Swank won the Academy Award for Best Actress, which should have gone to Julianne Moore for her brilliant role in The End of the Affair.

It's one of those films that any film lover has to see to judge for themselves. A critical darling and an award winner, it's a film of undoubted emotional power. It is based on the tragic case of Teena Brandon (Hilary Swank) who was raped and murdered in 1993, it would become one of the significant cases of hate crime in American history.From the off Kimberly Peirce's film sets out its stall that we are in bleak territory, and so it proves. It dangles little shards of light, but constantly it proves uncompromising and unpleasant. There's a nagging irk that main characters are very thinly drawn, where motives are given short shrift, and this is bizarre given that the pic runs for nearly two hours. However, the performances of both Swank and Chloë Sevigny are outstanding, and Peirce handles the darkest scenes in the movie with a grace and tact that deserves applause. A tale that needed to be told, even in truncated form, Boys Don't Cry is fine cinema making. 8/10

Boys Don't Cry is a brutal, hard hitting drama about the tragic story of Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank), a young woman with gender identity disorder and aims to live her life as a man. With a history of juvenile delinquency and social rejection from a homophobic, ill-informed community Brandon finds acceptance in Fall City, Nebraska, finding friends with a group and even love with Lana Tisdel (Chloe Sevigny). But when Brandon's secret is discovery it leads to rejection, violence, rape and murder.Boys Don't Cry is an extremely well acted, well directed film, particularly from Swank and Sevigny who had very tough roles. Director Kimberly Peirce gives Boys Don't Cry a very tight, claustrophobic feel with her close direction in small settings and she does not shy away with the brutality when showing the violence and the horrific rape scene.Boys Don't Cry is a very raw, powerful film and a fine example of American independent filmmaking as we get a film about acceptance, love and prejudice.