Movie Review: The Core (2003)

Genre: Sci-Fi Disaster Thriller  
Director: Jon Amiel  

Starring: Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Richard Jenkins, Stanley Tucci, Delroy Lindo, Alfre Woodard, Bruce Greenwood  
Running Time: 135 minutes  

Synopsis: College professor and geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes (Aaron Eckhart) analyzes a series of unusual phenomena and concludes that the rotation of the Earth's core has been disrupted, which will result in imminent mass destruction. In a hurriedly planned mission, Josh is teamed with a crew including the arrogant Dr. Zimsky (Stanley Tucci), astronaut Beck (Hilary Swank), and brilliant inventor Braz (Delroy Lindo). They have to bore through the Earth in a specially designed vessel, and then detonate nuclear bombs to reactivate the core.

What Works Well: The opening act features a series of gripping-enough catastrophes, including pacemaker failures, disoriented birds, and an improvised space shuttle landing. The scenes featuring Dr. Keyes and Dr. Zimsky explaining their conclusions to military and political leaders are reasonably effective in establishing the premise.

What Does Not Work As Well: The rest of the film drowns in increasingly preposterous nonsense. While Sci-Fi need not be grounded in actual science, the on-the-fly silliness in this script classifies as junk. Lowlights include "unobtanium" material that can withstand enormous pressure, mission preparations that come together in three months, improvised calculations to solve complex problems in mere minutes, and a slapped-on evil plot that never gains traction. The all-too-serious attitude does not help, the special effects are patchy at best, the running time is unnecessarily prolonged, and too many scenes feature scale models of a caterpillar-like vessel navigating murky soup.

Key Quote:

Dr. Josh Keyes: So, we hotwire the nukes, as one does. We seed them through the core at locations that have to be accurate to the inch. We detonate them in a sequence that has to be accurate to the millisecond. Then we outrun the biggest nuclear shockwave in history.

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Movie Review: I Am Mother (2019)

Genre: Science Fiction  

Director: Grant Sputore  

Starring: Clara Rugaard, Hilary Swank, Rose Byrne  
Running Time: 113 minutes  

Synopsis: After a human extermination event, the droid "Mother" (voiced by Rose Byrne) oversees a technology-controlled bunker stocked with thousands of human embryos. Mother grows one embryo into a Daughter and raises her over the years. As a teenager, the lonely Daughter (Clara Rugaard) becomes increasingly restless, but Mother insists that the outside world is contaminated. Their living arrangements are disrupted when a Woman (Hilary Swank) from the outside pleads for entry into the bunker, and Daughter decides to let her in.

What Works Well: This Australian production starts with the solid opening premise of humanity's demise, and then deviously stretches the scope in unexpected directions. Writer Michael Lloyd Green is interested in themes of trust, responsibility, motherhood, species salvation, and the role of technology, but only gradually reveals the plot's specific intentions. The bunker's dark and mazy hallways accommodate survival essentials within the glistening aesthetic of a machine-controlled environment, and Clara Rugaard capably carries an acting load spanning from innocent wonderment to duty fulfillment.

What Does Not Work As Well: The pacing is slow, and the running time is 20 minutes longer than necessary. The clever resolutions still leave a few important plot holes unexplained.

Key Quote:

Mother: Humans can be wonderful.

Daughter: Then why did you only make one?

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Movie Review: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)

Genre: Monster Horror Comedy  

Director: Fran Rubel Kuzui  

Starring: Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Hilary Swank, Paul Reubens  

Running Time: 86 minutes  

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, popular cheerleader Buffy (Kristy Swanson) is enjoying a typical teenager's life when she is approached by the mysterious Merrick (Donald Sutherland). He informs her that she is the Chosen One, the latest in a series of heroines with unique abilities to kill evil vampires threatening to conquer Earth. After a period of intense training Buffy starts tangling with vampires led by Lothos (Rutger Hauer) and his sidekick Amilyn (Paul Reubens), while at the same time falling in love with fellow student Pike (Luke Perry).

What Works Well: This anthem to female empowerment benefits from a wicked sense of humour and a steady stream of quotable zingers courtesy of a whip smart Joss Whedon script. The action is buoyed by a bloodless determination to not take anything seriously; acceptance that vampires can mix with teens in Los Angeles; and the natural conclusion that a cheerleader can become a cold-eyed slayer. Underneath it all is a message that girls are more than capable of rising above frivolities and confronting the real challenges of a big bad world. Kristy Swanson bring plenty of zest to the title role, Donald Sutherland anchors the one solemn character, and Paul Reubens finds immortality in an epic to-die-for scene.

What Does Not Work As Well: The limited budget is evident in the short running time, clunky set-pieces, and a lack of courage to venture into coherent universe-building or thematic complexities. One casualty is Rutger Hauer, who is wasted as a superficial villain-in-chief.

Key Quote:

Pike: You know Buffy, you're not like other girls. 

Buffy: Yes I am.

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Movie Review: Ordinary Angels (2024)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Jon Gunn  

Starring: Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Nancy Travis  

Running Time: 118 minutes  

Synopsis: The setting is Louisville, Kentucky, in the 1990s. Sharon (Hilary Swank) is a middle-aged hard-drinking hairdresser, and through the media she learns about roofer Ed (Alan Ritchson), who is struggling to raise his two daughters after the death of his wife. His five year-old younger daughter Ashley suffers from a rare disease and needs a liver transplant, and the medical bills are mounting. Sharon decides to help, starting with a modest fundraising campaign, but her own demons threaten to get in the way.

What Works Well: Based on actual events (with some embellishments), this is an uplifting drama about one woman reaching out, and a community rallying to support a family in need. The story carries the inherent emotions of profound loss, struggle against a rare disease, and a crushing financial burden, but the characters propel the narrative. Hilary Swank finds all the human corners beneath Sharon's brassy exterior as she embraces a cause as an alterative to drowning her failures in alcohol, and Alan Ritchson brings stoic pride to the decent working man reluctant to accept outside help. The faith elements are present but subtle.

What Does Not Work As Well: The sentimentality dial is occasionally turned to eleven, and the climax piles on the (sometimes literal) obstacles on the way to the pre-ordained ending.

Key Quote:

Sharon: I'm good at plenty of things. Taking no for an answer ain't one of 'em.

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Movie Review: Fatale (2020)

Genre: Crime Thriller

Director: Deon Taylor

Starring: Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy, Mike Colter

Running Time: 102 minutes

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, Derrick Tyler (Michael Ealy) co-owns a successful sports agency business with his partner Rafe (Mike Colter), but his marriage to Tracie (Damaris Lewis) is wobbling. On a trip to Las Vegas, Derrick enjoys what he thinks is a one-night stand with Val (Hilary Swank). Back in LA, Derrick scares off a midnight home invader, and is then shocked to find Val is the police detective assigned to the case. She is embroiled in a nasty custody battle, and uses her authority to manipulate Derrick into serving her needs.

What Works Well: The Tyler home is an elegant and sleek modern structure overlooking the city, the performances are adequate, and the production has a polished look.

What Does Not Work As Well: The director/writer team of Deon Taylor and David Loughery recycle many of the same themes from 2019's The Intruder with equally limp results, despite borrowing from Fatal Attraction and adding a more obvious Hitchcockian twist. The script is perforated with glaring logic gaps, none of the characters are worth caring for, and the attempts at steamy eroticism are half-hearted. In the third act, the pile of conveniently uninvestigated dead bodies grows to unwieldy proportions.

Conclusion: What happens after Vegas is a clumsy mess.



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Movie Review: You're Not You (2014)

Genre: Drama

Director: George C. Wolfe

Starring: Hilary Swank, Emmy Rossum, Josh Duhamel 

Running Time: 102 minutes

Synopsis: At 35-years-old, former pianist Kate Parker (Hilary Swank) develops the first signs of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). 18 months later, the disease is rapidly degrading Kate's physical autonomy. Her lawyer husband Evan (Josh Duhamel) is doing his best to cope, and Kate hires shiftless college student Bec (Emmy Rossum) as a caretaker. Kate and Bec gradually develop a deep bond of friendship, while Evan's actions jeopardize the marriage.

What Works Well: Director George C. Wolfe rises above the hazards of trite territory by focussing on the unlikely and sometimes difficult friendship between the straightlaced Kate (slipping towards death) and free-spirited Bec (finally stumbling upon a purpose in life). Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum both sparkle in creating two complex women finding strength, solace, and purpose, and their relationship nurtures the core theme of women seeking genuine connections. The strong supporting cast includes Loretta Devine and Ernie Hudson as a couple also dealing with ALS, plus Marcia Gay Harden, Frances Fisher, Ali Larter, and Ed Begley Jr.

What Does Not Work As Well: The tears are well earned, but the sentimentality levels occasionally threaten to break the needle. The side-stories involving Bec's love life (with Jason Ritter as potential boyfriend material) and her singing/songwriting aspirations deserved more screen time.

Conclusion: A cruel disease can still be an arena for triumphant spirits.



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Movie Review: Freedom Writers (2007)

Genre: Biographical High School Drama

Director: Richard LaGravenese

Starring: Hilary Swank, Scott Glenn, Patrick Dempsey

Running Time: 123 minutes

Synopsis: In the wake of the 1990s Los Angeles race riots, first-time teacher Erin Gruwell (Hilary Swank) joins Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. She is placed in charge of a first-year English class for multi-ethnic at-risk youth, most of them suffering tumultuous home lives and many of them gang members. The kids don't really want to be at school, but Erin persists, despite no support from the school, the cynicism of her father (Scott Glenn), and the strain on her marriage to husband Scott (Patrick Dempsey).

What Works Well: Director and writer Richard LaGravenese elevates familiar material into an effective, hard hitting, and uplifting human drama. Based on actual events, the transformation of a classroom from a divided hostility zone to a place of refuge is handled with pragmatic sensitivity. The highlights include a revelatory what-unites-us class session, a journey of awakening through Holocaust education, and individual students emerging from the collective by finding their voice in journal entries. 

What Does Not Work As Well: The pivot from a class full of anger to a room full of appreciation is sharpish, and the subsequent narrative progression is linear. Some of Erin's self-belief proclamations are cringey, and not always intentionally so.

Conclusion: The lesson is not new, but the delivery is polished.



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Movie Review: P.S. I Love You (2007)

A romantic drama with some humour, P.S. I Love You explores the depths of grief with a polished wink. The romance is heartfelt, but the movie suffers from bloat and some drudgerous pacing.

New Yorkers Holly and Gerry Kennedy (Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler) have been married for nine years. They bicker about money, jobs and when to have a baby, but they are still very much in love. When Gerry dies due to a brain tumour, Holly is devastated and left without her soul mate. Her mother Patricia (Kathy Bates) as well as best friends Denise (Lisa Kudrow) and Sharon (Gina Gershon) do their best to console her. Bartender Daniel (Harry Connick Jr.) also offers a shoulder to lean on.

On her 30th birthday Holly receives the first of 10 pre-arranged letters from Gerry, encouraging her to be adventurous and visit his home town in Ireland. While the letters keep her emotionally tied to her deceased husband, she also starts to emerge out of her depression, reuniting with Gerry's parents and meeting his hunky best friend William (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). But finding her new calling in life will be a challenge.

Demonstrating courage to introduce the central couple then kill off the guy within the first 10 minutes, P.S. I Love You immediately dares to be different. Director Richard LaGravenese co-wrote the script adaptation of Cecelia Ahern's book, and allows the love between Holly and Gerry to wash over the grieving widow through a series of flashbacks as she follows his advice in the mysteriously delivered letters.

Gerry's immense continued influence in Holly's life is also conveyed in his occasional post-death presence at their apartment and in her bed, her longing for his voice, touch and companionship emerging as palpable and painfully real.

But LaGravenese also overstates the strength and scope of the story. P.S. I Love You extend to a wholly unnecessary 125 minutes. The editing is flabby, and on several occasions songs are belted out almost in their entirety to pad the running time. The tired cliche of Ireland as a magically perfect place filled with nothing but rolling green hills and jolly salt-of-the-earth types is trotted out for another outing.

Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler try their hands at romance with mixed results. They convince as a committed couple, and Swank allows herself to drown in a sea of grief and seething anger at life's unfairness. But they are on much less secure ground in the flashbacks to their earliest meetings as 19 year olds. Both actors are well into their 30s and poor impersonators of footloose teens.

The supporting cast provides good touches of humour. Lisa Kudrow's Denise is on a single-minded mission to find a husband using a utilitarian checklist, and Harry Connick Jr.'s Daniel does not allow the missing filter between his brain and mouth to impede his confidence.

Mixing pathos with playfulness, P.S. I Love You is a poignant if somewhat ponderous postscript.



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Movie Review: What They Had (2018)

A routine family drama, What They Had features earnest discussions about difficulties faced by middle-aged adults dealing with aging parents and college-aged children, but introduces little that is new. 

In Chicago, the elderly Ruth Everhardt (Blythe Danner) is suffering from worsening dementia and wanders away from home in the middle of the night during a snowstorm. She is found safe, much to the relief of her husband of 60 years Bert (Robert Forster). But the incident is the last straw for her son Nicky (Michael Shannon), a bar owner who now insists Ruth should live in a care facility. Bert, who has a heart condition, disagrees and wants Ruth to stay home and in his care.

Nicky's sister Bitty (Hilary Swank) flies in from California with her 20 year old daughter Emma (Taissa Farmiga). Bitty is caught between Nicky's eagerness to place Ruth in care and Bert's resistance to any change. The trip also prompt Bitty to reassess her life, including addressing Emma's disinterest in attending college and confronting dissatisfaction within her own marriage to husband Eddie (Josh Lucas).

An independent low-key production, What They Had enjoys a stellar cast in fine form, but otherwise rarely rises above conventional fare. Falling somewhere between television-level movie-of-the-week familiarity and a small-cast stage show with the drama confined to just a couple of sets, the film replays many of the notes already heard with various intensities in films like Away From Her, The Leisure Seeker, Amour, and Still Alice.

Writer and director Elizabeth Chomko gradually shifts focus from Ruth to Bitty, and What They Had is ultimately the story of a woman stuck in the doldrums: feeling guilty about being separated from her ailing parents, trapped in a frigid marriage, unsatisfied in her career, unable to communicate with her daughter, and always bickering - or loudly arguing - with her expletives-loving brother. It's a big load for one character to carry in a 101 minute movie, and despite Hilary Swank's best efforts, most of the resolutions are flash fried.

Humour derived from Ruth's dotty behaviour adds the occasional spark, and the film is nothing if not honest in its fidelity to the dilemmas, frustrations, and the is-this-all-there-is questions thrust into the face of the sandwich generation. But What They Had tries too hard to evoke nostalgia through fading and jerky 8mm film recreations of Bert and Ruth's glory years, the soulful past unable to compensate for the present gaps in creativity.



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Movie Review: Million Dollar Baby (2004)

A superlative boxing drama, Million Dollar Baby is the story of a woman determined to box her way to a meaningful life, and the reluctant trainer who has to decide if he wants to help her get there.

Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) is a grizzled elderly trainer and an expert cut man, now running a gym more derelict than most. His only friend and confidant is the equally old former boxer Eddie Dupris (Morgan Freeman), who lost an eye in his final fight (with Frankie in his corner) and is now reduced to the role of gym janitor. As a result, Frankie has developed a reputation for being too cautious in managing the careers of his fighters, and they tend to leave him for other managers when on the cusp of glory. Frankie is also estranged from his daughter, who returns all his letters unopened.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) invites herself to the gym and starts pestering Frankie to train her. He wants nothing to do with training a woman, perceiving women's boxing as a passing fad. Maggie is from a white trash family and is nothing if not persistent, saving every penny from her waitressing job to buy better equipment. Frankie eventually relents and agrees to train her as long as she doesn't question any of his instructions. Together they start the long road to success, with unexpected outcomes.

Directed by Eastwood, written by Paul Haggis and narrated with soul by Freeman, Million Dollar Baby contains plenty of plot after Frankie finally agrees to work with Maggie. But it is not possible to reveal more of the narrative without spoiling the movie. Suffice to say that the drama extends to ecstasies and agonies rarely captured in screen sports stories, and the final 45 minutes takes a stunning twist towards a new realm that both shocks and captivates. This is a film that transcends its genre to touch the essence of the human spirit, with both Frankie and Maggie forced to confront what really matters and the definition of life itself.

Maggie's arc is the story of boxing, the sport an escape road from a wasted life of ruin, with the bonus offer of a potential shot at glory. Eastwood provides only snippets of Maggie's despicable family background, and it's enough to justify all her desire to do whatever it takes to escape her default status. Meanwhile plenty of texture is derived from the interaction between Frankie and Eddie, two veterans more than worn out by the battles of days past, but still unable to leave the sport behind.

Frankie tries to fill the emptiness in his life by learning languages and reading refined literature. None of it helps. His oxygen is obtained ringside, living vicariously through every punch and feint, looking for opponent weaknesses and developing knock-out strategies for his fighters. Eddie is more grounded, still keeping his eye on the talent at the gym as he drags his janitorial buckets around, looking for the spark of talent that can be nurtured into a contender, and encouraging the no-hopers to at least dream big. The conversations between the two, about everything from the regrets of yesteryear to the holes in Eddie's socks, add enormous depth to the film.

Eddie's narration is almost poetic in its mystical reverence towards the sport of boxing, where everything seems backwards. Boxers step out to attack, step in to defend, use the right foot to push left and the left foot to veer right. Self protection is the basis for destroying an opponent, and boxers control their breathing in the most breathtaking moments. It's a sport where victory comes from pummeling an opponent but only within preset rules, and one life can change for the better when another life lies in agony, face down on the canvas.

And the film has the old-fashioned patience of a 15 round bout going the distance. Eastwood allows himself a running time of 132 minutes, and plenty of scenes add in the necessary shadings to flesh out Frankie, Eddie and Maggie into deeply affecting characters. Eastwood, Swank and Freeman create unforgettable and imperfect people, all three stubborn enough to withstand the rigours of the sport, and all three full of individual warts, passion, heroism and perseverance.

Million Dollar Baby avoids anything that looks glamorous. Even Maggie's higher profile fights exude the ambiance of a sport struggling for relevance, and most of her lower rung bouts are little more than sideshows in local gymnasia. There is finally money to be made at an inordinately high cost. Frankie and Maggie confront the risks and rewards together, and find both to be more than they could have ever imagined.

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Movie Review: The Homesman (2014)

A pretty-to-look-at western exploring themes of survival within the desolation of frontier territory, The Homesman offers a relatively original premise and a unique perspective, but otherwise gets bogged down in lengthy stretches devoid of meaningful progression.

In the tiny western town of Loup City in the Nebraska Territory, Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) is a wealthy single woman, looking after a homestead all by herself and still hoping to attract a husband. But her plain looks and bossy personality keep any potential suitors well away. After a long and severe winter, three married women from the small local community exhibit signs of severe mental instability due to child loss, abuse and isolation. After a plea from Reverend Dowd (John Lithgow), Mary Bee is the only person who volunteers to accompany the women on a grueling five week wagon journey to the much larger community of Hebron, Iowa, where a church can offer some medical care.

At the start of the trip Mary Bee saves the life of a grizzled loner who calls himself George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones), and tempts him with money to accompany her. He reluctantly agrees, they pick up the sick women and set off into the wilderness. Along the way they will encounter hostile Indians and bandits, with their non-communicative, irrational and sometimes hostile patients further complicating an already difficult trek.

Directed by Jones and adapted from the book by Glendon Swarthout, The Homesman offers a rare women's view of the west. Unfolding at a slow and deliberate pace, the film presents the frontier as unforgiving and arduous, a place where women are pushed to the limits of endurance, often shouldering the full load of housekeeping, parenting and crop-tending and striving to meet the unrealistic expectations of the rough men they call husbands and fathers.

The prevailing theme is rampant emotional damage, with all the main characters in The Homesman long-term casualties of the survival grind. The men do suffer, but use sadistic or violent behaviour as an outlet. The women are only able to absorb so much before aging fast and folding within themselves. While the three wives who have psychologically collapsed can no longer conceal the trauma, Mary Bee is also battling roaring demons fed by loneliness, rejection and despair, and waiting to emerge at a time of their choosing.

As a viewing experience, The Homesman struggles to offer much beyond its relatively unique perspective. The flashbacks used to provide context around the sick wives' traumas are muddled and insufficient to draw them out as characters. Mary Bee's cargo therefore remains impersonal, and the entire film hinges on the relationship between her and George. The tension between a determined and desperate woman and a frontiersman well past caring about anything other than the money in his pocket does provide a decent narrative foundation. But rather than evolve over the course of the journey, they will both simply reveal more of their true selves, and the film settles for being an examination of two people choosing different paths to cope with the rigours of the wild west.

The film is visually beautiful, Jones and his cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto taking their time with plenty of open vista shots of an untamed west coloured by exquisite sunsets, Mary Bee's slow-moving wagon incongruously making its way through stunning but hostile and rarely traveled terrain.

In the two central roles Swank and Jones do not disappoint, and deliver solemn performances filled with the pain of past mistakes and the uncertainty of the present. In addition to Lithgow, the supporting cast also includes James Spader as a land developer who tangles with George, and a brief, late appearance by Meryl Streep, a city dweller whose calm presence provides a sharp contrast between the struggles in the territories and the relative comforts afforded in established larger communities.

The Homesman offers a journey that travels at the speed of two mules pulling a heavy wagon. It's not always graceful, but it does move ahead stubbornly, on its own terms.

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The Movies Of Hilary Swank

All movies starring Hilary Swank and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992)

Boys Don't Cry (1999)

The Gift (2000)

Insomnia (2002)

The Core (2003)

Million Dollar Baby (2004)

The Black Dahlia (2006)

Freedom Writers (2007)

P.S. I Love You (2007)

New Year's Eve (2011)

The Homesman (2014)

You're Not You (2014)

Logan Lucky (2017)

What They Had (2018)

I Am Mother (2019)

Fatale (2020)

Ordinary Angels (2024)

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The Movie Star Index is here.

Movie Review: Boys Don't Cry (1999)

A harrowing film recounting the events leading up to the 1993 murder of Brandon Teena, a Nebraska transgendered man, Boys Don't Cry is an unblinking story of personal struggle, love, and society's inability to deal with what is different.

In Lincoln, Nebraska, Brandon (Hilary Swank) is a young man trapped in a woman's body. A petty criminal with a chequered record and an inability to hold down a job, Brandon has transformed his outward physical appearance into a man and is trying to save money for a sex change operation, but the goal seems out of reach. He travels to the rural Falls City region, and makes friends with a group of four locals: John Lotter (Peter Sarsgaard), Tom Nissen (Brendan Sexton III), Candace (Alicia Goranson) and Lana (Chloë Sevigny). They are all drifting sideways in a life dominated by poverty and alcohol, and remain unaware that Brandon is a trans man.

John, Tom and Candace welcome Brandon into their lives and families, while Brandon and Lana develop a mutual attraction that progresses to physical intimacy. Brandon has hopes of moving to a better life in Memphis, while Lana dreams of a career as a barroom karaoke singer. John and Tom have violent tendencies and intermittent scrapes with the law. When Brandon again falls foul of the authorities, his struggles with sexual identity are revealed, with tragic consequences.

An independent production directed by Kimberly Peirce at a cost of $2 million, Boys Don't Cry cuts to the core. This is a remarkably tragic love story that addresses the human spirit outside the confines of the human body, and find the emotions of longing, love and hate transcending gender. Social norms force Brandon into a life that is misconstrued as deceitful, and social conditioning tips John Lotter and Tom Nissen into a pre-wired response of drunken brutality because their world was not designed to accommodate an outlier. Rarely has a film stared so uncomfortably at the failings of the human condition.

Peirce jumps in at the deep end of the pool and creates an unrelenting experience. Boys Don't Cry reveals a forgotten and depressing rural America ruled by the tyranny of poverty, alcohol, crime, a lack of education and dead-end jobs. In a grim exercise of communal calculus, life for Brandon would be tough anywhere. In the rural hinterlands, how Brandon presents himself is literally a matter of life and death, and the moments of tender affection between Brandon and Lana stand out like a unique river of purity running through a toxic wasteland.

But the other side of genuine desperation is unintended deception. Brandon just wants to fit in, carve a place in life, pursue a dream, make friends and fall in love. That he has the body of a woman is an embarrassing inconvenience that he has to cover up and circumvent. And if Brandon can overcome his own body's incongruity with his self, he expects others who love him to be able to as well. His struggle for acceptance is wrongly perceived as a massive betrayal, leading to horrific violence.

Relatively unknown at the time of the film's release, Hilary Swank delivers a seminal performance as Brandon Teena. Swank won the first of her Best Actress Academy Awards for embodying the heart and soul of a tentative man. She nails the mannerisms and attitude of vulnerable uncertainty, with the smiles and gestures of a man perilously close to the edge but trying hard all the time to be one of the guys.

Chloë Sevigny is also excellent as Lana, the intended lover and unintended emotional victim. The film takes liberties with Lana's actions late in the drama, but Sevigny nevertheless portrays her as the sensitive and yet shining beacon of hope. Even when surrounded by hate and ignorance, Lana fights for love and tolerance, in a demonstration not of what society is, but what we it can be. Boys Don't Cry is painful, and painfully essential.

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Movie Review: The Gift (2000)

A suspense thriller with horror elements set in the deep south where the supernatural lurks side by side with unevolved society, The Gift rises well above the swamp thanks to a spooky Sam Raimi ambiance and a stellar cast.

Annie Wilson (Cate Blanchett) is a struggling single mother of three boys in the rural town of Brixton, deep in the American south. Annie has an extra-sensory gift, and makes a living of sorts as a fortune card reader. Her clients include Valerie (Hilary Swank), who is being regularly physically abused by her violent husband Donnie (Keanu Reeves), and the dim-witted town mechanic Buddy (Giovanni Ribisi), a deeply troubled former victim of child abuse.

The local school principal Wayne (Greg Kinnear) is engaged to the haughty Jessica (Katie Holmes), unaware that Jessica is sleeping around behind his back. Donnie seriously resents Annie advising Valerie to leave him, and starts to threaten Annie and her sons. When Brixton is rocked by the mysterious disappearance of one of its most prominent citizens, the baffled authorities turn to Annie for help. She works with the sceptical sheriff Pearl Johnson (J.K. Simmons) and prosecutor David Duncan (Gary Cole) to seek justice, which proves to be dangerously elusive.

Co-written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson, The Gift draws its energy from a gothic setting drenched in deep southern fog. The town is small and isolated, the houses are cluttered, and folks are poor, uneducated and many are more than willing to accept the intervention of the supernatural. On this platform Raimi builds a fairly traditional story of murder most foul, and his stellar cast does the rest, transforming what could have been routine into a higher quality trip through the marshlands.

The film creates a stream of enjoyable suspense punctuated by regular side trips into short sharp horror territory. Raimi does not hold back from conventional bumps-in-the-night and what's-behind-the-door thrills, but overall The Gift is more about mood and atmosphere than violence. Annie's frequent extrasensory visions drive the mystery forward, and are executed with salacious panache.

The film ends with a ghostly intervention that is either a step too far from what most phantoms are capable of, or an allegorical strength-through-conviction punch line. Either way, it's an interesting challenge and talking point.

Blanchett gives Annie the haunted look of a woman scraping together a living, while understanding that her gift is a thin line away from being a curse. Her ability to sense what may be the past, the present or the future is not to be personally celebrated, but rather a barely controllable capacity to experience the agony of others.

Blanchett is surrounded by talent in all the supporting roles, Reeves particularly fearsome as Donnie, the husband not far removed from caveman tendencies. Holmes oozes uncontrolled sexuality, Jessica a spoiled brat with misguided ambitions too big for a town like Brixton. Swank is a women living with brutality because that is all she knows, and Ribisi is intense as Buddy fights entirely different demons.

A mix of the morose and the metaphysical shrouded with the phantasmal, The Gift is worth receiving.

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