Boys Don't Cry

This is no new movie but I saw it a few months back, again thanks to this friend of mine, who gave me the movie. Boys Don’t Cry is based on the life of 21 year old Brandon Teena, who hailed from Lincoln, Nebraska. Well what was so special about Brandon you may ask, Brandon Teena was born Teena Brandon, a girl who ardently wanted to get a sex change operation. During her days as a pre-operative transsexual she pretended to be a ‘he’ by cropping her hair so short that her scalp almost showed which made it even more difficult to realize that this ‘he’ was no real ‘he’. However life at her hometown becomes troublesome when she starts going out with girls, impersonating a guy and gets found out and the townspeople do not take it too kindly. So Teena leaves Lincoln and moves to Falls City where she is immediately smitten by a karaoke singer Lana Tisdel played by Chloe Sevigny. The two start going out and Lana is intrigued by Brandon too as ‘he’ is no man that Lana has ever dated, with so much feelings and tenderness that Lana has never witnessed in any man before. But this little ‘love story’ do not have a happy ending as you will find out once you see the movie; its tough to hold back your tears when you see Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena, helpless and crying when she is at the police station, being interrogated. Hilary Swank was paid a mere 3,000$ which didn’t even cover her insurance. The film drew critical acclaim; it can be described as a sad song about a free spirit who tried to fly a little too close to the flame. Swank was a fresh face and was able to completely fit into the shoes of Brandon. She took her job seriously and paid attention to every minute detail, like the facial expressions and body language. Chloe Sevigny’s role was no easy job either; her acting was heartbreaking and faultless and this role as Lana Tisdel put her on the Hollywood map. Both women won nominations for the best actress in a leading role and best actress in a supporting role respectively for the Oscars and the golden globes alike; Swank went on to win both of them. It was a breakthrough role for both Swank and Sevigny and both delivered a mesmerizing and dexterous performance. The movie was a debut movie for director Kimberly Peirce and even though it was a small budget film, she delivered at her first go at the industry. The last frame of the movie shows that Lana is driving away from Falls City, with tears in her eyes, while in the background we hear Brandon reading out a letter that ‘he’ wrote to Lana. As the car disappears over the horizon, we hear Nina Persson singing The Bluest Eyes In Texas; the song makes it even more enchanting and we realize that we miss that like Lana we miss Brandon and hum along with Persson “The bluest eyes in Texas are haunting me tonight, Like the stars that fill the midnight sky, her memory fills my mind, Where did I go wrong? Did I wait too long? Or can I make it right? ”