The Crying Game - Mike!

The Crying Game

Written by Neil Jordan

And here we are. Our very first winner. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ choice for the Best Original Screenplay of 1992. And what a doozy it is.

Something I know you and I had in common was that the only thing we knew about this movie going into it was the now-famous “twist” that made it one of the most talked about movies of the early 90s. I didn’t know what it was about. I didn’t know anything about the other characters. All I knew was that, to quote Mayor Quimby, “the chick from The Crying Game is actually a man! I mean, man! What a good movie!” So, naturally, I was so pumped to see if a movie would hold up at all if, going into it for the first time, I already knew it’s biggest secret.

There’s a lot to unravel here, really. There’s a lot going on in The Crying Game. It’s about a lot of things… loyalty, obsession, identity and, as the movie is always quick to point out, human nature. That’s one of my biggest gripes. The script kept beating me over the head with the “it’s my nature, it’s your nature” thing. I got it as soon as baby Forrest Whitaker told the Scorpion/Toad story in the beginning. It informs the rest of the movie, but I’m not stupid. Jody’s telling at the beginning, and Fergus’ telling at the very end would have been nice bookends if it didn’t come up so much.

Before I get too much into that, though, I gotta talk about that twist. Because of course. It’s like the entire point of the movie!... except that it kind of isn’t. So Jody appeals to Fergus’ good nature and convinces him to let him go. He dies anyway, in the movie’s demonstration of “the illusion of choice,” so Fergus keeps his promise to check in on Jody’s girl. He becomes completely obsessed with her, protects her from a violent suitor, walks her home, buys her drinks, etc. What’s fascinating about that big reveal is what it reveals about Fergus. Immediately, we know everything Jody deduced about him is correct. He’s loyal and sincere. He keeps his promise to Jody, and is able to admit to himself that he’s come to care for Dil anyway… maybe he just doesn’t know in what capacity.

Also, it’s a testament to script and Jaye Davidson’s performance that, even knowing the twist and actively noticing the clues that point to it, I was still able to get lost in the story and sometimes forget a twist was even coming, that Dil wasn’t anything other than what she presented herself as. I also loved the scene at the construction site, after Fergus makes his discovery, where Dil gently mocks him for not figuring it out sooner. “Really, the signs were all there, darling.” She’s giving us a hard time, too. Even in the bar, everything becomes obvious in hindsight when it becomes clear that ALL the women in that bar are trans. It’s a trans bar. You don’t notice earlier because the only other people there we’re told to focus on are Fergus, Dil’s asshole kind of boyfriend Dave, and Wonderful Bartender Jim Broadbent.

Let me get back to my point about the twist not being what The Crying Game is really about, at least plotwise, because it turns out it’s actually about a couple of militants from the IRA, who try to pull Fergus back into his old way of life. Which, man. This is a movie that uses the three-act structure to its fullest extent because it kind of feels like three different movies! It’s a hostage movie, then it’s a romance, then it’s ticking time bomb thriller. I never felt like the movie was disjointed though, as it all comes together kind of beautifully in that climax. As Dil becomes more unhinged as her identity begins to slip away from her, almost killing Fergus, killing the FUCK out of Miranda Richardson, then almost killing herself… I don’t know. I was genuinely on the edge of my seat. “I’m afraid you forgot to knock, darling,” might be one of my favorite pre-gunshot quotes now.

Loved the little epilogue, too. I almost wanted to call it a cop-out, but I realized it really tied the whole thing together. Fergus wanted to escape his past, and Dil just wanted to be accepted for who she was, and that’s why they needed each other. It doesn’t matter if they become actual lovers, or just stay as close friends, because, I guess, that’s what The Crying Game is actually about.

And that closes out 1992. I didn’t do ongoing rankings like you, but I’ll do one to wrap it up.

1)      The Crying Game

2)      Unforgiven

3)      Husbands and Wives

4)      Lorenzo’s Oil

5)      Passion Fish

There we have it.