MuLtiMeDiA

      LinKs

   vIrtUaL GallerY

   fAcTS

¯¯

Excerpted from
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
September 15, 1999.

Boys Don't Cry struck me so powerfully on first viewing that it wasn't until hours later that I realized how really good it is. The immediate emotional impact forced aside thoughts of direction, writing and performance, and I was simply there, inside the story of a girl named Teena Brandon who decided to become a boy named Brandon Teena, fell in love, and was murdered.

This true story from 1993 has already inspired a documentary and TV coverage ranging from news magazines to Jerry Springer. You might guess that the story of a 21-year-old Nebraskan can't support all that attention, but you'd be wrong. Like Romeo and Juliet, this tragedy of deception and love can support any number of interpretations, and seems destined to become part of our folklore, a death that holds up a mirror to society.

Moving to a small town an hour or two away from Lincoln, she - now he - falls in with a crowd of redneck pool players and their girls, and is soon dating Lana (ChloÎ Sevigny), a girl about her age. They live in a violent world of drinking and drugging macho bullies, who at first accept Brandon and then eventually discover the secret.

The film was directed by Kimberly Peirce, who co-wrote it with Andy Bienen. They avoid all the pitfalls of symbolism and polemics and simply allow their story to emerge from these lives. Swank achieves a convincing compromise between female and male, and embodies Brandon's uncomplicated desires with a kind of enthusiastic purity. This is not a person who recites clichÈs about "a man trapped in a woman's body" but a good-looking kid who wants to have a good time, to party and fall in love. When Brandon whispers to a cop, late in the film, about a "sexual identity crisis," you sense these are words that have been heard but not understood.

Boys Don't Cry is a compelling and absorbing film for general audiences, the kind of movie like Midnight Cowboy, Philadelphia or The Crying Game that can reach and touch anyone. It's not sociological, it's not ideological, it's simply the sad and beautiful story of two star-crossed lovers; Romeo and Juliet in a trailer park. Its story is so touching and compelling, so convincingly and simply told, that it would absorb any audience given the chance to see it.

Boys Don't Cry is one of the best films of the year.

For the Full Article: www.suntimes.com

"Bold."
"Stunningly accomplished."
"Flawless acting."
"Poignant and candid...a 'Rebel Without A Cause' for these culturally
diverse and complex times."
-- Emanuel Levy, Variety

"Riveting."
"The director works at a level of naturalistic purity that recalls the Gus
Van Sant of Drugstore Cowboy."
--Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"Must see."
--Leah Rozen, People Magazine

"Powerful."
--Mark S. Allen, KMAX TV (WB-Sacramento)

"Hilary Swank delivers an Oscar caliber performance."-
--Omar Lugones,WSVN/Fox

"A very interesting film with astonishing performances!"
--Kathryn Jenson White, The Daily Oklahoman

"Hilary Swank gives the best performance this year by an actress."
"Hilary Swank deserves Oscar consideration for her performance."
--Jim Ferguson, KMSB-Fox TV

"Hilary Swank delivers an astounding Oscar worthy performance."
--Matthew Hays, Montreal Mirror

"Incredible performances and direction bring the audience face to face with
this real-life tragedy."
--Liz West, CTV

"Exactly calibrated to deliver the message not the moral"
"Smartly written, brilliantly shot..."
--Cynthia Amsden, xtra!

"An unflinching and haunting film.  Hilary Swank is mesmerizing"
--Kai Hartwig, TMN--The Movie Network

"Lurid, shocking...awe-inspiring...thoughtful and visceral."
"Has the awe-inspiring horror of Greek tragedy."
"Writing on the whole is so adroit, the performances so nuanced, and the
material is so compelling."
"'Boys Don't Cry' scorches the screen like a prairie fire."
-- J. Hoberman, Village Voice

"Spectacularly accomplished."
"Heartbreaking."
"Swank is touching, beguiling, and androgynously beautiful."
-- David Ansen, NEWSWEEK

"Hilary Swank does a remarkable job, and a portrait emerges that renders her
not as a martyr, but a naively hopeful, unbearably lonely kid."
-- Maureen Callahan, SPIN

"Shockingly intimate and deeply effecting."
"The director moves from delicacy to devastation with uncanny skill, and
Swank and Sevigny give performances that burn in the memory.  'Boys Don't
Cry' means to shake you, and does."
"Hilary Swank proves an inspired choice to play Teena, a reckless spirit and
small-time thief who leaves home with a vengeance."
-- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Raw and harrowing."
"The more unbelievable it seems, the more profound the impact because the
lurid facts are all true."
"'Boys Don't Cry' is riveting stuff, thanks largely to the truthful,
unsparing script by Ms. Peirce and Andy Bienen and a blazing, inspired,
dedicated and consuming central performance by Hilary Swank, who plays Teena
with a ferocity beyond the call of duty."
"'Boys Don't Cry' is a powerful, provocative work that elevated the cause of
independent filmmaking several notches in the direction of responsible,
soul-rendering cinematic artistry."
--Rex Reed, The New York Observer

"Stunning."
-- Nicole Keeler, TONY

"Directed and co-written by first-time filmmaker Kimberly Peirce, who works
with a purity and forces that marks her as a major new voice."
"BDC sticks close to the actual case, yet locates a fierce mythological
undertow in the events of this extraordinary story."
"It's Swank who's the revelation.  By the end, Brandon/Teena is beyond male
or female.  It's as if we were simply glimpsing the character's soul in all
it's yearning and conflicted beauty."
-- Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"Two Very Enthusiastic Thumbs Up!"
-- Roger Ebert and B. Ruby Rich, Roger Ebert and the Movies

"An extraordinarily moving drama."
-- Jack Mathews, NY Daily News

"A flawless performance by Swank."
--Leah Rozen, People


"FOUR STARS"
"'Boys Don't Cry' stands as one of the year's most intriguingly tragic
romances...a stunning film debut for Peirce and a star-making performance
for Hilary Swank."
"Swank is a discovery."
-- Marshall Fine, Gannett

"THREE 1/2 STARS "
"One of the dominant independent pictures of the year."
"Swank's performance quickly takes on a life of its own."
-- Mike Clark, USA Today

"FOUR STARS"
"Sensational"
"Sensationally moving."
-- John Anderson, Newsday

"THREE 1/2 STARS "
"Brilliantly acted."
"A brilliantly self-confident first feature."
"A powerful, deeply moving tale."
--Jack Mathews, Daily News

"THREE 1/2 STARS "
"A haunting, superbly made film."
"Powerful, convincing performances."
"Swank does Oscar-caliber work as Brandon."
--Jonathan Foreman, New York Post

"THREE 1/2 STARS "
"Hilary Swank's breathtaking performance as a youth who belongs to both
sexes and to neither lifts "Boys Don't Cry" into a particularly exhalted
sphere."
-- Bob Campbell, Newark Star-Ledger

"FOUR STARS"
"An extraordinary film."
"Hilary Swank does a masterful job of capturing the gender-bending allure of
Brandon."
--Jim Beckerman, The Bergen Record

"FOUR STARS"
"A powerful, resonant, soulful film."
-- Susan Stark, The Detroit News