Review of Boys Don't Cry (1999) by Andrew D — 26 Mar 2011

There's almost always something you can find wrong with a film. With a film like this, it comes down almost entirely to taste. If you like the characters and the story, then the plot will be something that you'll follow and want to see continued. You'll continue to care about them, and there won't be a single dull moment for you. If that's the case, then you will thoroughly enjoy Boys Don't Cry. If, by an arbitrary point in the film, you find yourself not caring, then I'd say to stick with it anyway, because the final third is worth it.

That's not to say that you'll like the film at all, and in fact, you very well might dislike it. It's a very difficult watch, especially during the final third. This doesn't make it bad though. In fact, it's a film you'll be torn about while watching. There will be moments where you won't want to continue watching it, but because of what's happening, and what has happened earlier, you will have difficulty turning away. You will likely have mixed emotions, with disdain potentially filling your head after the film ends.

But like I said earlier, this doesn't make it bad. Being boring, having unlikable and unrelatable leading characters, and not covering anything worth talking about would make it bad. Whether or not it's boring will depend on how well the lead characters end up endearing themselves to you. If you end up caring about them, then the film won't often be boring. If you don't care, then you'll frequently be bored, because absolutely nothing that appears on-screen will be interesting.

Or maybe it still will. I fall into the former category, so I was intrigued throughout most of the film. The thing is, even if you don't care much about the characters, the struggles that they have to go through make them almost impossible to not find interesting. Whether you care or not, there is a lot to discuss when it comes to this particular film, and for that alone, it's almost worth watching.

The story centers on a transgender man named Brandon (Hilary Swank). After being forced out of her home, he ends up making friends with some heavy partying 20-somethings. He takes interest in one of the females of the group, Lana (Chloë Sevigny), who ends up returning that affection. The main conflict of the story comes from Brandon being transgendered, and his attempts to keep that a secret from the judgmental family that surrounds Lana.

As you can probably tell by that description, our lead, Brandon, deserves a lot of sympathy and empathy. Or at least, the film tries to get us to care, which is more than can be said for a lot of films. Whether or not it succeeds will be based on the individual. Its attempts to warrant care worked on me, so there's something for you to go on. The characters are deep, have issues, problems and all the good things that make you want to save them from any type of pain or prejudice.

The same type of caring cannot be given to Lana's family, who are not nice people. Even though they befriend Brandon, I still cannot say that I ever liked them. They're hard party people, irresponsible and unrelatable. You don't want to see anything good happen to them, not even when they are still good guys in the story. They're never framed as people you would want to spend a day with, which ends up working in the film's favor come the final third.

What makes the film even more powerful is the acting performances given by the two leading ladies. Swank, who plays a male, goes through a great physical transformation for the role. Brandon looks like a male, through and through, and while you can still tell that it's Swank underneath the character, just because of her physical appearance, she loses herself in the role. Not to be outdone is Chloë Sevigny, who holds her own with Swank.

Here's a heads up to those of you who will watch this film: The ending comes somewhat out of nowhere. I thought there would be much more to the film, but the final 10 minutes happened, and they hit hard. It's during this portion of the film where you will be put to a test. You will find out how much you cared for the characters throughout. This portion of the film, and a great deal before it, becomes even more emotionally involving when you realize that it was telling a true story. This story, more or less, actually happened.

Boys Don't Cry is quite a good film. I can't necessarily say that it's an enjoyable one, or one that you will even like, but it's well-made and tells an important story. The acting is great, and because of that, you will likely care about the characters within it. It's a difficult watch, but it's a film that I would say is worth watching anyway.