Boys Don't Cry | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

Pierce was honest enough to take a hard look at the set of circumstances surrounding Brandon's death. One might say that through her artistic integrity she stumbled on the general tragedy surrounding the individual tragedy.

Scene after scene takes place on several emotional levels at once, with love, hate, confusion, courage, yearning, hopelessness, strength, and desperation all thrown into the mix.

Despite being one of the first major films to grapple with being transgender in America, Boys Don't Cry is neither self-congratulatory, heavy-handed, nor exploitative.

[VIDEO ESSAY] Kimberly Pierce's remarkable 1999 filmic version of Brandon Teena's last days is a scalding indictment of the kind of consciously ignorant intolerance that runs disgracefully through America's Heartland and Southern states.

Time has made Kimberly Peirce's dramatic debut about sexual misfit, stunningly played by Hilary Swank, even more relevant and powerful.