Hidden, a Gender

Director Kimberly Peirce's near-documentary retelling of the story of Teena Brandon - a woman who dresses as a man and tries to start a new life in Falls City, Nebraska - proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that white trash and sexual politics just don't mix.

There are two types of films in this genre: one that will leave the audience as black-and-blue as the characters on screen, having been bludgeoned by the message of "intolerance as evil"; and one that will show the subtleties of sexual confusion and ignorance. Thankfully, "Boys Don't Cry" is firmly in the latter category.

The script, co-written by Ms. Peirce, is full of quietly realistic moments. But it is the performances of the two lead characters that make the movie as thoroughly watchable as it is. Hilary Swank (light-years beyond "The Next Karate Kid") is wonderful as Teena, flawlessly and constantly conveying an air of femininity behind her male exterior. Each sentence from her mouth takes on multiple meanings throughout the film. Chloe Sevigny ("Kids") emerges as an actress of some depth as Lana, the woman who begins dating Teena (or "Brandon" as she is known in her new life) unaware of her secret. The relationship that forms between these two women is as real as any on screen in recent memory.

These two performances keep the story interesting, even if there is not much to propel it forward. Like "Romeo & Juliet", too much of the story is predetermined. The other characters that populate the film are largely one-dimensional "trailer trash" and, while their actions are consistent, they are also unsurprising. The women are scared ("how could you bring this evil into my house?") and the men are violent brutes. It would have been nice to have seen something of the background of these characters, particularly Teena. The story picks up after she has already made the transformation to a man, but we are not privy to the events that led up to that decision. Nor are we given much background on the characters she eventually falls in with.

In the end, "Boys" falls victim to its own inevitability. Characters of this type must behave a certain way, and the conclusion is predictable even without knowing the facts of the real-life events. Ms. Swank and Ms. Sevigny stand out as very powerful reasons to watch the film. At the very least, Ms. Brandon's story is worth telling. And it's worth telling this well.