Boys Don't Cry (1999)
Director: Kimberley Peirce
Writers: Kimberley Peirce and Andy Bienen
Length: 118 mins
Country: USA
Cast: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendon Sexton III
Writers: Kimberley Peirce and Andy Bienen
Length: 118 mins
Country: USA
Cast: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard, Brendon Sexton III
I have always found this to be one of Hilary Swank's strongest acting performances, hence her undoubtedly well deserved Oscar award win for her role as the film's lead character, Brandon . This film is as touching as it is unnerving. A story about love, acceptance, courage and extreme human cruelty.
Boys Don't Cry is a film adaptation of the real life story of Brandon Teena, a trans-gender man. In the film, Brandon moves to Nebraska where he makes friends with ex-convicts John and Tom, and through them meets a girl, Lena, who he quickly falls in love with. Brandon and Lena begin a romantic relationship, though there is one thing Brandon has not told her: he is anatomically female. A cruel truth for Brandon who has lived his whole life as a man. Brandon Teena's real name is in fact Teena Ray Brandon. When John and Tom discover Brandon is female, he is brutally beaten and raped. Lena and Brandon make plans to escape to Memphis, after Lena accepts him for who and what he is. Tom and John are disgusted by their relationship and one night in a drunken madness decide to kill Brandon. Upon finding Brandon, Lena desperately tries to fight them off before Tom shoots Brandon and he dies in a pool of blood, leaving a distraught Lena. The film ends with Lena leaving Nebraska to pursue her dream while we hear the voice over of a letter Brandon wrote her.
What I find truly admirable about this film was the huge amount of pre-production which went into scripting it. The director, Kimberley Peirce, had come across the story of Brandon Teena in an article she read while she was still a film student at Columbia University, in 1994. She then became completely taken with his story and immersed herself in researching everything about his life, reading trial transcripts and even interviewing (real life) Lena Tisdel, Tisdel's mother and couple of Brandon's friends. This extensive research took Peirce five and a half years. Not only that but Hilary Swank lived and dressed as a man for a month prior to filming. Neighbours of Swank's residence genuinely believed a young man came and left the house. Now if that is not commitment, I don't know what is.
In many ways I find this a "love story" or "romantic tragedy", rather. In a sense, I find it bears many similar sentiments to other love stories such as Romeo & Juliet or Bonnie and Clyde. Ultimately the tale of two ill-fated lovers.
Boys Don't Cry is a film adaptation of the real life story of Brandon Teena, a trans-gender man. In the film, Brandon moves to Nebraska where he makes friends with ex-convicts John and Tom, and through them meets a girl, Lena, who he quickly falls in love with. Brandon and Lena begin a romantic relationship, though there is one thing Brandon has not told her: he is anatomically female. A cruel truth for Brandon who has lived his whole life as a man. Brandon Teena's real name is in fact Teena Ray Brandon. When John and Tom discover Brandon is female, he is brutally beaten and raped. Lena and Brandon make plans to escape to Memphis, after Lena accepts him for who and what he is. Tom and John are disgusted by their relationship and one night in a drunken madness decide to kill Brandon. Upon finding Brandon, Lena desperately tries to fight them off before Tom shoots Brandon and he dies in a pool of blood, leaving a distraught Lena. The film ends with Lena leaving Nebraska to pursue her dream while we hear the voice over of a letter Brandon wrote her.
What I find truly admirable about this film was the huge amount of pre-production which went into scripting it. The director, Kimberley Peirce, had come across the story of Brandon Teena in an article she read while she was still a film student at Columbia University, in 1994. She then became completely taken with his story and immersed herself in researching everything about his life, reading trial transcripts and even interviewing (real life) Lena Tisdel, Tisdel's mother and couple of Brandon's friends. This extensive research took Peirce five and a half years. Not only that but Hilary Swank lived and dressed as a man for a month prior to filming. Neighbours of Swank's residence genuinely believed a young man came and left the house. Now if that is not commitment, I don't know what is.
In many ways I find this a "love story" or "romantic tragedy", rather. In a sense, I find it bears many similar sentiments to other love stories such as Romeo & Juliet or Bonnie and Clyde. Ultimately the tale of two ill-fated lovers.
Peirce, who originally wanted to pursue a career in photography, obviously has a keen eye when it comes to composition and cinematography. She has skillfully utilised a handful of film techniques which allows us to view the world from Brandon's perspective. A clever decision, as most of us couldn't dream of being able to relate to Brandon's situation.
There is one particular structured three-shot scene at the beginning of the film, which is effectively used to show Brandon's point of view. There is a shot of Brandon, he walks through the door, then as the viewer we see the door open. Brandon walks through the door, then the viewer walks through the door. Director, Peirce, says this shot is inspired by a similar scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939), where Dorothy leaves her house for the first time and ventures into the Land of Oz.
Peirce also admits taking substantial visual inspiration from Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980) and Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1967). You will recognise the opening shots of Boys Don't Cry and Raging Bull are very similar - with the dream like haze, traveling down a long road.
The director says she deliberately chose NOT to show Brandon before he started dressing as man, in order to persuade the audience to view Brandon the way Brandon viewed himself; foremost as a man. This is true, because in the beginning of the film there is no indication to showing, and indeed no reason to suspect, Brandon is not a man. We only later see Brandon is a female when we see him binding his chest.
The great acting and storyline is the strongest aspect of the film. I have to say, Hilary Swank plays brilliantly in this role. Not only does she look convincingly like a boy, but her body language and speech is spot on. In addition to Swank's method acting stunt, she also chose to lose a considerable amount of weight. This was so Swank's bone structure could become more angular and boyish looking, particularly in the face. Swank really did go above and beyond as Brandon to give a stunning performance. It's one thing to dress as a man, but quite another to really believe you are one. There are also a number of extremely emotionally and physically charged scenes, such as the rape scene and love scenes between Brandon and Lena - which would have been extremely challenging for the actors, who all played their roles honestly and bravely. Swank's love scenes with Sevigny (who plays Lena) are personal, sensitive, emotional and also sexual - a difficult feat for any actor, but Swank pulls it off. She manages to show us the inner turmoil Brandon suffers, his strong belief in himself as a man and his love for Lena. Apparently after the rape scene, Sexton (who plays Tom) walked away in tears.
You will notice a somewhat muted colour palette, the visual style being dark and saturated. This seeks to emphasise the bleak, harsh landscape of Nebraska and possibly also the troubled conscience of Brandon himself. Many of the scenes are also shot at night. Contradictorily, some scenes are filled with colour - such as when Brandon and Lena make love. This quite palpably symbolises the life and love between the two characters, compared to the dark and dank world of Brandon's reality. I also noticed some colourful shots almost seem to have a dream-like quality to them, as if to suggest this is Brandon's fantasy, where in his fantasy world, he is man with a girlfriend and he can be who he really is (on the inside). The "American Dream" one might say. I thought this decision by Peirce was effective and added greatly to the tone of the film.
There's been some controversy (and complaints from Lena Tisdel and Brandon's mother) as to how accurately the characters in the story have been portrayed, however I find that any shortcomings in the plot or screenplay is well made up for by the spectacular acting performances by Swank (Brandon) and Sevigny (Lena). It can be argued that perhaps the plot developed a bit too fast and skipped over some material that may have been relevant, though I had no issue with it.
While this film is certainly no masterpiece, or a film I could watch over and over - it certainly is a film worth watching, if only to watch an Oscar winning performance by Swank and learn a valuable lesson in human compassion and gender tolerance while you're at it.
In my opinion it is the story of Brandon which is the most compelling reason to watch it, more than the cinematography or anything else. The story undoubtedly carries the film. It's the tragic love story and struggle for acceptance which lies at the heart of this film; the story of Brandon Teena, which should be more than enough reason to watch it.
- K
Favourite moment:
When Lena says she loves Brandon no matter what he is.
Least favourite moment:
Rape scene.
There is one particular structured three-shot scene at the beginning of the film, which is effectively used to show Brandon's point of view. There is a shot of Brandon, he walks through the door, then as the viewer we see the door open. Brandon walks through the door, then the viewer walks through the door. Director, Peirce, says this shot is inspired by a similar scene in The Wizard of Oz (1939), where Dorothy leaves her house for the first time and ventures into the Land of Oz.
Peirce also admits taking substantial visual inspiration from Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980) and Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde (1967). You will recognise the opening shots of Boys Don't Cry and Raging Bull are very similar - with the dream like haze, traveling down a long road.
The director says she deliberately chose NOT to show Brandon before he started dressing as man, in order to persuade the audience to view Brandon the way Brandon viewed himself; foremost as a man. This is true, because in the beginning of the film there is no indication to showing, and indeed no reason to suspect, Brandon is not a man. We only later see Brandon is a female when we see him binding his chest.
The great acting and storyline is the strongest aspect of the film. I have to say, Hilary Swank plays brilliantly in this role. Not only does she look convincingly like a boy, but her body language and speech is spot on. In addition to Swank's method acting stunt, she also chose to lose a considerable amount of weight. This was so Swank's bone structure could become more angular and boyish looking, particularly in the face. Swank really did go above and beyond as Brandon to give a stunning performance. It's one thing to dress as a man, but quite another to really believe you are one. There are also a number of extremely emotionally and physically charged scenes, such as the rape scene and love scenes between Brandon and Lena - which would have been extremely challenging for the actors, who all played their roles honestly and bravely. Swank's love scenes with Sevigny (who plays Lena) are personal, sensitive, emotional and also sexual - a difficult feat for any actor, but Swank pulls it off. She manages to show us the inner turmoil Brandon suffers, his strong belief in himself as a man and his love for Lena. Apparently after the rape scene, Sexton (who plays Tom) walked away in tears.
You will notice a somewhat muted colour palette, the visual style being dark and saturated. This seeks to emphasise the bleak, harsh landscape of Nebraska and possibly also the troubled conscience of Brandon himself. Many of the scenes are also shot at night. Contradictorily, some scenes are filled with colour - such as when Brandon and Lena make love. This quite palpably symbolises the life and love between the two characters, compared to the dark and dank world of Brandon's reality. I also noticed some colourful shots almost seem to have a dream-like quality to them, as if to suggest this is Brandon's fantasy, where in his fantasy world, he is man with a girlfriend and he can be who he really is (on the inside). The "American Dream" one might say. I thought this decision by Peirce was effective and added greatly to the tone of the film.
There's been some controversy (and complaints from Lena Tisdel and Brandon's mother) as to how accurately the characters in the story have been portrayed, however I find that any shortcomings in the plot or screenplay is well made up for by the spectacular acting performances by Swank (Brandon) and Sevigny (Lena). It can be argued that perhaps the plot developed a bit too fast and skipped over some material that may have been relevant, though I had no issue with it.
While this film is certainly no masterpiece, or a film I could watch over and over - it certainly is a film worth watching, if only to watch an Oscar winning performance by Swank and learn a valuable lesson in human compassion and gender tolerance while you're at it.
In my opinion it is the story of Brandon which is the most compelling reason to watch it, more than the cinematography or anything else. The story undoubtedly carries the film. It's the tragic love story and struggle for acceptance which lies at the heart of this film; the story of Brandon Teena, which should be more than enough reason to watch it.
- K
Favourite moment:
When Lena says she loves Brandon no matter what he is.
Least favourite moment:
Rape scene.