Boys Don't Cry: A Review

 

BOYS DON'T CRY

Long before the term "transgender" was in the vernacular, there was the film Boys Don't Cry, which chronicled the short life and death of one born Teena Brandon but died Brandon Teena. Boys Don't Cry is a tragedy, unafraid to tackle hard topics while not deifying its central character. 

Taking place in the final months of Teena's life, we find that Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank), to the objection of her cousin Lonny (Matt McGrath) is going after women while not telling potential girlfriends that Teena is not a biological man. Forced to leave Lincoln, Nebraska after a new girlfriend's family discover Teena's biology, Teena eventually goes to Falls City, Nebraska. Here, Teena bonds with a small group of locals. Among them is ex-con John Lotter (Peter Sarsgaard), his fellow jailbird Tom Nissen (Brendan Saxon III) and two girls. One of them, single mother Candace (Alicia Goranson), takes a liking to Brandon. For Brandon's part, Teena has eyes only for Lana Tisdel (Chloe Sevigny), who is quite young but who is desperate to escape the small-town world of Falls City.

Brandon, still hiding the truth of Teena's biological state, begins a relationship with Lana, even managing to bond with Lana's mother (Jeanetta Arnette), who likes Brandon and booze. Exactly what Lana knows about Brandon's status as a biological woman is unclear. She clearly enjoys the oral sex that Brandon performs on her, but she also sees clear signs of cleavage from the breasts that Teena has managed to tape up. The deception that Teena has played on Brandon's circle is finally unmasked when the past comes back to the person legally known as Teena Brandon.

Teena Brandon's criminal past is uncovered in Falls City, and Brandon is placed in the female wing. By this time, Lana is in love with whomever Brandon Teena is and helps Brandon by bailing Brandon out. However, news of Teena Brandon hits the press, and Candace discovers Brandon's legal name and biological status. This sets off a chain of events that leads to Brandon's violent assault and rape and two shocking killings.

One of the best elements of Boys Don't Cry is in how the film does not make Brandon Teena into a saint, some darling innocent who is the victim of some random crime. The Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry steals, fights, misses court dates, uses assumed names, disregards good advice from Lonny and is a fugitive. Brandon also continues deceiving people, particularly Lana, about the truth of Brandon's birth gender. Lana, perhaps unwilling to admit to herself that Brandon is not whom she thinks Brandon is, wants to know why Brandon is in the women's section of jail. Initially, Brandon tells Lana that Brandon is a hermaphrodite when in reality Teena was born biologically female.  

The Brandon Teena we see is in some ways a very unpleasant person. It, does not, however, make Teena's killing any less shocking or tragic. Through Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning performance, we see Brandon as both deceitful but also highly vulnerable, a person struggling within to live up to not just Brandon's ideas about how Teena identifies but on how others see Brandon Teena. When confronted with Teena Brandon's criminal past by the Falls City police, all Brandon can say, with a quiver in the voice, is "This Teena chick seems pretty messed up". 

In Swank's performance here, we can see the struggle between Brandon Teena's ideas about Brandon's identity and Brandon's understanding that legally, it is Teena Brandon, a young woman with a criminal past that has finally caught up with her. There is also the powerful scene of when Teena is haltingly talking about the rape that Teena went through at the hands of John and Tom. 

The other performances were also quite strong, which is a credit to first-time director Kimberly Peirce, who cowrote the screenplay with Andy Bienen. Sevigny, who received a Supporting Actress nomination, was effective as Lana. Lana was in love with Brandon, or perhaps her idea of Brandon. Sevigny shows that young woman struggling between her ideas of who Brandon is, not just sexually but also personally. Boys Don't Cry does not make Tom or John cartoon villains. They are surprisingly human, who do take some stabs at being good people, particularly John with his young daughter. Their final acts of rape and murder still shock and horrify. However, the film allows them to be seen, at least initially, as more welcoming, making the turn unsurprising but still evil.

Goranson was moving as the doomed Candace, and Arnette as well as Lana's mom, who likes Brandon until she discovers Teena is a biological female. In that complex relationship between loving Lana and being appalled at the situation, we empathize with this white trash family and the circles they run in.

I did think that the editing between the actual assault of Teena and the interview was a bit jarring. There was also one scene where Brandon looks at Brandon after having Teena's pants pulled down that was a touch too poetic for my taste. 

However, with strong performances and a well-paced film, Boys Don't Cry tells its story with a surprising level of sympathy for all concerned. 

1972-1993

DECISION: B-