This film left me with a profound sense of sadness, but it's not a "Kleenex" film. Boys Don't Cry is about the horrors that people do to each other, as well as the struggle to figure out who we are in a world full of people who all have their own opinions about us. I love two things about it: the title, which is perfect, and Hilary Swank's Oscar-winning performance as Teena/Brandon. She is a drifter who, believing that she was supposed to be male, dreams of having sex-change surgery. As she waits, she dresses as a boy, dates women, gets into repeated trouble with the law, and moves in for a time with a small-town family that's almost as aimless as she is. She falls in love with a girl named Lana, which leads to trouble later on once people figure out who she really is. Swank's performance is deep and complex; she clearly shows the conflict between Teena/Brandon's desire to be a man and her reality of being a woman. Although I loved Annette Bening in American Beauty, I definitely think Swank deserved her Oscar. I think this film disturbed me even more because I knew it was largely based on a true story. It's an odd combination of sickening tragedy, beautiful emotion, and haunting ideas and images. The credits song, "The Bluest Eyes in Texas," still gives me chills when I think about it.
Review of Boys Don't Cry
