Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: A retelling of the life of a girl with a sexual identity crisis in Nebraska and her murder.
Stars: Chloe Sevigny * Peter Sarsgaard * Hilary Swank
Review: An excellent character study, even if the movie itself is flawed.
Brandon Teena (Swank) is a young man in Nebraska who has a secret - he's actually a she, named Teena Brandon, who has a sexual identity crisis. He falls in with a couple of ex-cons and their group of friends, and falls in love with a girl, Lana (Sevigny). This presents a problem - Lotter (Sarsgaard) feels betrayed and emasculated, leading him to rape the young man and eventually murder him when that rape is discovered.
Sarsgaard, Swank, and Sevigny all play excellent roles in the movie, which has a sense of foreshadowing for those who know the true life story of Brandon/Teena from the news. Even with foreknowledge, one still hopes Brandon/Teena can get his/her life together before the tragic ending.
All based-on-true-events films play a little fast-and-loose with the facts concerning the original story, and several controversies erupted when the film was released, but that does not detract from the excellent work done here.
Overall: Good
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