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Boys Don't Cry (18)
Running Time: 114 minutes
CAST
Chloe Sevigny, Hilary Swank, Peter Sarsgaard
DIRECTED
Kimberly Peirce
Boys Don't Cry opens with Teena Brandon being transformed into Brandon Teena. She's getting a very short haircut that will butch her up. The camera dawdles on her as she hams it up in front of a mirror, striking playful, self-mocking -- but also very serious -- poses as a cocky young man. Actress Hilary Swank perfectly captures both the nervousness and exhilaration of this newly born young man who continues walking a high-wire even after he crosses the point of no return. What's most moving, though, is the underlying story that the actress conveys: Brandon's years of struggle and torment, the anguish he hides beneath his grin. Even before the back-story is fleshed out, we read it in Swank's eyes and demeanor.
The real life Brandon Teena crashed into the nation's consciousness in late 1993 when the media reported the story of a brutal triple murder that had taken place in southeast Nebraska. Two ex-cons had brutally slaughtered Teena and two of her friends in an isolated farmhouse. The story resonated deeply when details of Teena's brief and troubled life surfaced. Frequently in trouble with the law, the young wo/man had a record for traffic violations, check forgery, and a host of petty crimes. He also had a history of romancing beautiful young girls, without many of them ever finding out that "he" was a "she." The ruse came to a horrifying end, though, when two angry young rednecks (former friends of Brandon's) discovered her secret, viciously raped her, and then killed her a few days later in order to keep her from pressing rape charges.
Writer/director Kimberly Peirce (who co-wrote the script with Andy Bienen) gooses her film up with the trendy, painfully overused gimmick of speeding her film up rapidly when the camera is turned toward secondary details: Cars become blurs of color trailing light, and smoke coming from chimneys moves with an almost cartoon-like hurriedness. Though she looks far more girlish than the real Teena did, Swank is impressive in the lead role, essaying vulnerabilty, the aching bliss of living inside a dream come true -- and the heartbreak of always having to keep an eye cocked over your shoulder. The rest of the cast (which includes Alison Folland and indie-film sweetheart, Brendan Sexton III) is also rock solid. But in many ways it's Chloe Sevigny who walks off with the film. As Lana, the girl who ultimately steals Brandon's heart -- and gives him hers -- Sevigny has both the dry, sarcastic humor and scabbed heart that bring this white-trash beauty queen to life. To watch Sevigny's Lana slowly thaw to Brandon is to see the transformative, heartbreaking power of romance in a way that Hollywood is rarely able to capture anymore.
Fadi Khawaja
[email protected]
4 out of 5 stars
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