The Boy Who Cried Bitch

Watching The Boy Who Cried Bitch left me with the same reaction after seeing Hal Hartley's "Trust" more than fifteen years ago.

"Where are the awards?"

1991 was quite a year for these grim, character-driven indie films. As "Silence of the Lambs" dominated the year critically, films like Trust and The Boy Who Cried Bitch were hanging from the helicopter rafters of Hollywood. With its modest production value and emphasis on the performances of the actors, this family drama offers more of a meditation of childhood mental health within the context of family dysfunction. It's terse and brilliant script penned by Catherine May Levin, was supposedly based on true events but I cannot find a lot of other information about the author. Is she the mother of a child with a mental illness? Was she the child, but she made the character into a boy for the film? I don't know how this story connects to her life and I am interested in knowing more about the author because it really is a well-written piece of celluloid

While the leading role of the stuttering, violent, maladjusted Dan Love - played bey Harley Cross receives most of the well-deserved accolades, the real show stealer here is the role of Candice Love, the mother played by Karen Young. This is truly one of the most riveting performances I've seen in years. Imagine the commanding, emotional range of Sally Field without the ham. Her eye movements, the delivery of the lines, her intermittent shifts between mania hopelessness. The acting is stellar all around. I would also like to give an honorable mention to Dennis Boutsikaris. He has really locked himself into quite an archetype as the soft-spoken yet arrogant Dr. Orin Fell the head psychologist of the mental hospital that Dan is confined in. He exudes a soft-evil, a passive-aggressive, manipulative agent of authority not too far from his characters portrayed in "The Dream Team" and in "Better Call Saul."

The main drawback of this film is the production quality which is fortunately saved by the performances and the script. A better sound design could have been implemented. There are scenes where the boom mic is in the shot and there is a great presence of hisses when the actors say their "s" and "p" sounds. Aside from that, I would highly recommend this film. If you are a fan of the "troubled-teen-trying-to-adjust" trope in cinema, like Good Will Hunting, White Oleander, etc., then The Boy Who Cried Bitch offers a much more harrowing, less Hollywood-feel-good, approach to this difficult subject.

The Boy Who Cried Bitch, is not only one of the best flicks I've seen in a while, but it's also one of the best movie titles I've ever come across.

The story basically follows a young boy who suffers from serious mental issues. From his interactions with his family and how he rules the roost, to his interaction with the people who run the institution he eventually heads to.

The Boy Who Cried Bitch was a incredibly intimate feeling flick that was really realistic in it's story-telling and it's portrayal of a young boy not being able to cope with the outside world. From not having a father to guide him and to having an incredibly immature and imbalanced mother, all the ingredients are there for a young kid to go awry and not benefit from a nurturing family.

I've seriously got to commend the little dude who played the disturbed young kid. Harley Cross (cool ass name), is a genuine child-star and one performance I'll never forget. He's actually reason enough to watch this flick. I should give the producers and directors some love too, since I'm sure it's somewhat tough to direct young kids. And to do it as well as this, is damn impressive.

It's been a while since I've seen a flick where I've been grabbed so fast and yanked right into the feel and atmosphere. Right away, you've got Harley screaming at his mother, "Slut bitch!" And not long after you've got the Mom yanking her shirt showing.....never mind, I'll just simply say, if you get the chance to see The Boy Who Cried Bitch don't let it pass by. This a really, really good flick.

The Boy Who Cried Bitch was an extremely limited release film from 1991. It was playing in one theater in Manhattan and I saw it four times. It features a terrific performance by Harley Cross as the disturbed child. The film is very depressing. It never was released on any format and I rarely find other people who know anything about it. I'd love to find a copy. I highly recommend this film.

i bought a copy of this movie at ebay. i did not expect much from that title and to my big surprise it turned out to be a great psychological thriller. i can't believe that this movie did not find any distributor. if i had the money i would distribute it myself... my advice, if you get the chance to watch it then don't miss it. i also liked that movie because it shows a huge famelyproblem. a problem i'm experiencing in my own family too. it shows how hard it is for a family to live with a emotional disturbed child. you can't just get rid of your own kids by putting them into a psychic institution. i mean their your kids and you love them. however, thanks god that my problem is not as big as the mothers problem in that movie. and that is the shocking thing about that movie. it is made so realistic and the plot and actors are also very realistic so it scared me...

Just to say it´s one of the greatest movies ever for me. I have seen it at least ten times and even more the last 15 minutes, a truly spine-chilling end. Any adjective to describe the sound track would be incomplete and, above all, the main actor performance is a lesson to Hollywood business empty 'big' stars Russell Crowe, Brad Pitt, etc, etc ..

Impossible to find it in video/DVD, it´s unknown even for movie rental shops. A real real pity.