Formative Performances: Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry”

[The following is a guest post from abovethetitle.]

Hilary Swank’s goodwill in Hollywood is on a downturn right now but that doesn’t mean we should forget her breakthrough performance. Gender bender is a long-standing tradition in Hollywood (another favorite of mine being Jaye Davidson in “The Crying Game”) but Swank was simply masterful in her portrayal of Brandon Teena, a female-to-male non-operative transgender living in Nebraska. I really have not much else to add that the critics and Oscar voters didn’t already say. It has to be one of the greatest performances of the past 20 years or so.