g_b Film review: Transamerica -

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Film review: Transamerica

Film review: Transamerica
   By: 
Tushar Joshi 
    April 1, 2006 





















Transpotting reality















 



A still from 
TransamericaTransamerica 
* * *1/2


Dir: Duncan Tucker

Cast: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers 


Plot: Bree (Felicity Huffman) is a transsexual getting ready for a sex change operation. A biological male living as a woman over the years, she's just about to take the big step when she gets a call. 

Her estranged son Toby, from a long-forgotten relationship, is in jail, waiting to be picked up and rescued. Bree embarks on a cross-country road trip to meet Toby and is soon sucked into a situation where she has to deal with her past, get hold of the present and come clean to Toby about who she really is. 



Acting: Did Reese Witherspoon really deserve the award this year? A question that's sure to pop in your head after you watch Huffman's Bree. 

The voice, the walk, the dress, and the make-up (or the lack of it), everything about Bree is so well defined that it seems like Huffman must have lived the role in another life. 

Watch out for the scene where she has to camp with Toby in a remote forest and her outcry on the phone to her friend about how she's living without tissues and sleeping in the tacky woods without air conditioning! 

She's hilarious, but you don't feel like mocking her. Full marks to Kevin Zegers for supporting Huffman with his Toby who's so subtle, silent, and restless that you want to know more of him. 

His scrawny look, unkempt hair, and stained T-shirt make him look more vulnerable than his father, who now wants to be a woman. 


What's hot: The film has an indie feel to it. There isn't anything lavish or flashy and that works for the story it's telling. 

Felicity Huffman is an actress who's always taken risks. Imagine being an Emmy award-winning actress working in one of the biggest television shows around the world, and then itching to get into the skin of a transsexual character. It not only takes guts, but also the risk to know that you might fail. 


The Bree she paints is garish, loud, funny, insecure and above all, human. Not once do you see Huffman uncomfortable playing a man, waiting for the day he becomes a complete woman. 

Bree's family — her estranged mom, a father who gave up on her long time back, and a sister who's coping with addiction, make the plot more interesting and give it the much needed push.  


What's not: Is Toby gay, or is he parading as a homosexual to mint money? That remains an unanswered question. Also what happens to Graham Greene, Bree's supposed love interest in the film? Some questions remain unanswered in an otherwise free-of- bloopers plot. 



Bottom line: One of the quiet films that spring up a pleasant surprise, Transamerica must be seen for two reasons. 

First, to watch Felicity give the performance of her lifetime, and second, because it achieves a fine balance between being entertaining and serious at the same time. 







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