In the year 2020, we may finally be seeing some sort of broad acceptance for transgender rights. Yes, it isn’t universal as anyone following J.K. Rowlings will tell you, but it’s better than it probably was when Boys Don’t Cry came out in 1999. Hilary Swank got the first of her two Academy Awards for this one in the role of Brandon Teena, a transgender man who was murdered in rural Nebraska.
The movie itself did have some controversy in the form of the young woman Brandon romanced in the movie, as played by Chloe Sevigny, was unhappy with how the movie portrayed her life, but what about the movie itself?
As stated before, Swank stars as Brandon Teena, born Teena Brandon, a biological female who identifies as male. However, he’s living in early 90s Nebraska, and even the more urban Lincoln isn’t exactly friendly to a transgender man. After a cousin evicts him, he goes off to Falls City where he falls in with ex-cons John Lotter (Peter Sarsgaard) and Tom Nissen (Brendan Sexton III) and their friends, particularly Sevigny’s Lana. Brandon has been looking for love and acceptance, and these people seem more than willing to let him into their group even as he begins a romance with Lana. Yes, Brandon isn’t exactly being honest on many things, but this may not be the kind of people who would accept a more honest answer on things like Brandon’s sexual identity.
And, as it turns out, Brandon himself may not be completely sure what he identifies as. His cousin suggests he should just admit to being a lesbian when he goes out carousing, but Brandon won’t because that isn’t exactly the right answer.
As it is, Brandon and Lana’s relationship goes pretty far, but the people around Lana can be pretty nosy and John has something of a hair trigger temper. He won’t take being lied to well. And when he does find out, it really shows how little Brandon can do to protect himself in and around Falls City.
Swank is excellent here as a young man looking for love while not being biologically male, and unable or unwilling to put as much into words. Sevigny is also in top form as Lana, a woman who comes to realize that her current lover isn’t what he says he is, at least biologically, and director Kimberly Peirce actually show how Lana figures it out in a smart way, starting with a scene when Lana and Brandon are actually having sex, Brandon staying mostly dressed when Lana looks down and sees the man on top of her has cleavage. But for all that Lana is presented here as a way out, there really isn’t one for Brandon. Sarsgaard’s John, meanwhile, has a slow-burning menace. He’s the sort that would goad a person on and then blame said person for doing the very thing John pushed in the first place and not take kindly to having the truth pointed out, and that’s before he gets violent.
Now, in 2020, we can hope that there are less stories like that of Brandon Teena’s, but the sad reality is that we live in a world where people will use any excuse to treat other people as less than human, undeserving of the respect, love, and dignity that everyone deserves. But I believe we may be getting at least a little better, if for no other reason than there was a time when a story like Brandon’s might not even have been told in the first place.
Grade: A
0 Comments