Curator Watchlist
A devastating, important true-crime drama with strong performances and real historical weight, though its 1999 perspective and graphic violence make it difficult and, for many viewers, ethically complicated. It is worth watching if you want a serious, emotionally punishing film about trans identity, love, and… Read more
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 1h 58m
Director: Kimberly Peirce
Starring: Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard
A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.
Kimberly Peirce
Hilary Swank, Chloë Sevigny, Peter Sarsgaard
A devastating, important true-crime drama with strong performances and real historical weight, though its 1999 perspective and graphic violence make it difficult and, for many viewers, ethically complicated. It is worth watching if you want a serious, emotionally punishing film about trans identity, love, and brutality in a hostile world.
Boys Don't Cry is one of the defining American dramas of the late 1990s: raw, ugly, and impossible to ignore. Kimberly Peirce directs it with a grim procedural clarity that lets the cruelty of the setting accumulate until the film becomes almost unbearable. Hilary Swank’s performance is the film’s anchor, full of vulnerability, charm, and stubborn self-invention.
At the same time, the film is also a product of its era, and that matters. Its handling of trans identity is deeply contested now, especially in how it frames Brandon Teena through violence, misgendering, and a cis-centered lens. For some viewers, that makes the film feel essential but flawed; for others, it makes it hard to recommend at all.
As a piece of cinema, it is powerful and expertly acted. As a cultural artifact, it is complicated and painful. If you watch it, do so with the understanding that its impact comes as much from what it exposes as from what it gets wrong.
Sally Jane Black · 2084 likes
TW: transphobic violence, rape, murder I guess the first things I need to do are note the usual crimes. The film deadnames Brandon Teena, misgenders him, and while it ultimately falls heavily on Brandon's side in a lot of ways, it still fails to equip uneducated viewers with a way to respectfully address and respond to the subject matter. If you think that isn't this film's purpose, my response is merely to point out that its purpose is very obviously… more
single white femalien · 1977 likes
haha woah so many people reviewing this are really really gross brandon teena was a man not a confused woman it's like, rly super simple to understand thanks for your time
isaac (2.5★) · 1419 likes
don't really understand how people can watch the real life story of a trans person who was brutally raped and murdered shown through lengthy sequences and take away that this is a tragic romeo and julietesque story about how sad it is when society doesn't accept you... this is the reality for so many trans people, it's not romantic, it's horrifying.
Mel (2★) · 1260 likes
Maybe don’t deadname the person your movie is based off of in the credits? Ever think about that? EDIT: I hate this website where my 4-year-old reviews still get engagement and people trying to argue with me. Squabble on your own time, but I’m turning off comments.
Oscar (3★) · 750 likes
if boys don't cry why the fuck am i sobbing
Another landmark prestige drama about stigma, dignity, and the human cost of prejudice, with a similarly mainstream-accessible emotional approach.
A major biographical LGBTQ drama that pairs political urgency with a tragic historical arc and strong lead performance.
For viewers drawn to emotionally serious, award-season character drama centered on identity, repression, and pain.
A grim, performance-driven true-crime drama about violence and damaged lives, with a similarly bleak emotional register.
A more restrained and elegiac queer drama that explores grief, isolation, and selfhood with precision and style.
A devastating love story about forbidden desire and social pressure, with comparable emotional intensity and tragic inevitability.
A mainstream trans drama that, like this film, invites discussion about representation, performance, and the limits of its era.
A more kinetic and contemporary trans-centered film that offers energy, empathy, and a very different tonal approach.
An essential portrait of gender performance and queer community, useful as a broader cultural counterpoint even though it is documentary.
For viewers who want another emotionally forceful, issue-driven drama about marginalized lives and institutional indifference.
A tense identity drama from the same era, with obsession, performance, and a constant sense of danger.
A late-90s suburban drama about repression and alienation, sharing the era’s polished but uneasy mood.
trans identity, queer tragedy, true crime, violence and trauma, small-town hostility, gender performance, love and betrayal, social marginalization
LGBTQ drama, true crime, transgender, 1990s cinema, tragic romance, social realism, violence, prestige drama, biographical, trauma