It’s not a stretch to say that director Kimberly Peirce’s 1999 Academy Award-winning debut Boys Don’t Cry helped save my life.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Nov 29, 2024

The film features fantastic performances aplenty and very raw storytelling, visualized by neorealist style and low lighting.

| Original Score: 86/100 | Nov 24, 2023

With this movie, Brandon's memory lives on forever.

| May 5, 2023

Kimberly Peirce's film is unarguably one of the finest adult dramas of the year, and arguably one of the best examples of independent filmmaking in recent memory.

| Dec 16, 2022

Hilary Swank shows a depth of talent that is rare in even the most seasoned thespians.

| May 16, 2022

Now comes the cherry on the immortality cake, Kimberly Pierce's brilliant dramatic rendition of the tale of the girl who would be a man and love as one.

| Oct 6, 2021

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.

| Feb 16, 2021

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.

| May 21, 2020

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.

| Mar 25, 2019

[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.

| Original Score: A | May 28, 2012

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

| Original Score: A- | Jul 9, 2011

...undoubtedly benefits from Swank's searing, justifiably lauded performance.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 18, 2008

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 7, 2008

Nail-tough yet poetic.

| Original Score: A | Jan 31, 2008

The shock is not in the tragic ending, but the devastating emotional effect Kimberly Peirce is able to achieve through mere nuance.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 21, 2007

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 14, 2007

The casting is nothing short of brilliant.

| Jan 3, 2007

A suspenseful piece of work. Expect to be depressed.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 10, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 14, 2003

Four years ago, said director Kimberly Peirce, she could not have made this film and thought it was spectacular to see the Oscars flash the subject of the story across America and around the world.

| Original Score: A | May 11, 2003