#indiemonday

I love this movie so much! It is a great, quirky road trip movie, about friends taking one last big adventure before adulthood. This is so many elements making worthy of an Indie Monday recommendation! FANBOYS has a fan-freaking-tastic cast; Jay Baruchel, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette are childhood buddies planning to breach the Skywalker Ranch, home of geek God George Lucas. Their mission? To steal a rough cut of the Episode I film- six months ahead of it's release. Stormtrooper helmets in tow. The magnificent Kristen Bell rounds out their ragtag crew, showing up as the trek has already begun to literally bail the boys out of trouble. There's an incident with taunting some Trekkies, a mishap with an online love and her very defensive uncle, and a wicked trip on some fine native Peyote with 'the Chief.' There are guest appearances by William Shatner, Danny Trejo, Ethan Suplee and several incarnations of Seth Rogen.  FANBOYS touches on one of the greatest nerd debates: Star Wars vs. Star Trek. The comedy comes from the fact that each group of fans are equally devoted, and equally nerdy. As an outsider, I can tell you there's no 'winner' in such a standoff.

A great thing about FANBOYS is you don't have to be a Star Wars fan, a comic book collector, a LucasFilm buff or even remotely familiar with any  of the obscure fandom references they make in order to enjoy this movie! The group are motivated by the information that one of their own is terminally ill, this trip serves not only as their last hurrah before true adulthood, but perhaps the last crazy thing they will do all together. Friendship is a universal concept, understandable and commendable in any cultural context.

This movie is everything indepenent films should, can and want to be.

Hilary Swank earned her first Oscar for the role of Nebraska trans-teen Brandon Teena, with accolades from the Academy for Chloe Sevigny, as on-screen love interest Lana Tisdel. The film, which was critically acclaimed and commercially successful, opened in the US the same week that Matthew Shepard was murdered in Laramie, Wyoming. The media crush ushered the plight of homosexual and transgender youth, especially those in the religious south and conservative midwest US, to epic heights in our social conciousness.

Families and acquaintances of the film's inspiration, born Teena Brandon, were particularly vocal about percieved discrepancies in the story- although they declined to participate in the interveiws and research that (co-)screenwriter Kimberly Pierce conducted for nearly five years. The film follows a fairly small span of time; Brandon leaves Lincoln, Nebraska after a confrontation with the brother of a former girlfriend leaves him vulnerable to exposure. Down in Falls City, Brandon strikes up a friendship with John Lotter and Tom Nissen, local boys with pretty extensive criminal histories. Brandon begins a relationship with Lana Tisdel, but things catch up with him-- with results far more serious than in Lincoln. Lotter and Nissen find out about Brandon's true sex, then they beat and rape him. Convinced by Lana to report the incident, Brandon is hunted down and discovered hiding in the backyard shed of another friend Candace's house. They murder Candace and Brandon, sparing Lana, but leaving her shocked amongst their carnage. If you watch this movie and feel nothing, you have a problem. Regardless of where you stand on the political aspects of LGBT causes, this movie is about the vicious persecution and execution of someone who was just trying to find their own way in this world.  The relationships and the struggles of Brandon Teena's short life are recreated in BOYS DON'T CRY in stunningly realistic fashion. I dare you not to cry watching it.