Boys Don't Cry

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Teena Brandon blew into town, stuck a sock in her crotch and said she was a guy: Brandon Teena. Who believed her? Everyone, especially the lonely girls dazzled by the notion of a sweet, sympathetic man. This true-life Nebraska fable --M. Butterfly mixed with In Cold Blood --proved that love is blind and hate is too. Boys Don't Cry, a fiction film, underlines the awkwardness of cowgirl court-ship as Brandon (Hilary Swank) and best friend Lana (Chloe Sevigny) probe for each other's guilty secrets. But the movie lets down the material. It's too cool: all attitude, no sizzle--horror under glass. This time, art can't measure up to real life, love and death.