list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Transamerica on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Transamerica/246510/default.aspx Title: Transamerica
Year: 2005
Director: Duncan Tucker
Plot: The first film by Duncan Tucker, Transamerica stars Felicity Huffman as a pre-operative transsexual named Bree (whose given name was Stanley). One week before going under the knife, Bree learns that she fathered a boy who is now 17 and is in trouble with the law. Bree would like to ignore this information, but is forced to meet the young man, Toby (played by Kevin Zegers), by her analyst Margaret (Elizabeth Peña), who will not allow the surgery to happen unless Bree meets him and confronts this aspect of her past. Upon meeting, the son believes that Bree is simply a do-gooder. She buys a car and the two road-trip back to her home in Los Angeles, Bree all the while attempting to keep from Toby the truth of the situation. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 27
Number of Lists: 21
Number of blog posts: 8
SpoutRating: 3
]]>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:40:03 GMTTransamerica2005Duncan TuckerThe first film by Duncan Tucker, Transamerica stars <a href="/players/P____33774/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Felicity Huffman</a> as a pre-operative transsexual named Bree (whose given name was Stanley). One week before going under the knife, Bree learns that she fathered a boy who is now 17 and is in trouble with the law. Bree would like to ignore this information, but is forced to meet the young man, Toby (played by <a href="/players/P___228680/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Kevin Zegers</a>), by her analyst Margaret (<a href="/players/P____55879/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Elizabeth Peña</a>), who will not allow the surgery to happen unless Bree meets him and confronts this aspect of her past. Upon meeting, the son believes that Bree is simply a do-gooder. She buys a car and the two road-trip back to her home in Los Angeles, Bree all the while attempting to keep from Toby the truth of the situation. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide27Tag Target (>10)2183http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t79572d9ukj.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Transamerica/246510/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2009/6/8/42579.aspx Post By: pippin06
Post To: Reel Thoughts
Post Date: 6/8/2009 7:40:03 PM
Body: What's an Oscar Flashback (tm)? Read here: Next on my Netflix queue was Transamerica, for which Felicity Huffman was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar (film year, 2005; awarding year, 2006). The other nominees for Best Actress in this category were: Walk the Line - Reese Witherspoon (Winner) Mrs. Henderson Presents - Judi Dench Pride and Prejudice - Keira Knightley North Country - Charlize Theron This movie also represents the third of five LGBT-themed Oscar movies at the top of my Netflix queue (thanks to my stream of consciousness queuing). Just in case you were keeping track. I watched this film a couple of weeks ago. I'm starting to watch more films on my much-anticipated and needed two month break from community theater but am officially and woefully behind on the reviewing side. As such, some of these entries may not be the best, owing to the fact that I now have to comb deeper recesses of my memory to remember movie details than I normally would. Transamerica is about Bree (Huffman), born Stanley, a pre-operative transsexual woman who, shortly before surgery, learns she fathered a boy who is now 17 and in jail. Bree is happy to continue with the surgery, but her preop therapist (Elizabeth Pena), believes that Bree must confront her past fully before accepting her re-engendered future. Bree posts bail for Toby (Kevin Zegers) in New York City but does so posing as a charity worker and agrees to transport Toby to Los Angeles. She buys a car and gets to know her long-lost son, all the while maintaining the secret of who she really is, particularly after learning that Toby is, himself, painfully searching for his long-lost father. Transamerica had a lot of heart. The story, which could have been turned into a cringingly soap-opera type affair, was actually told with humor and the slightest tinge of sardonic cynicism, making it endearing and entertaining. Felicity Huffman was wonderful in the role, though, as she is Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives, and as I don't think she is particularly mannish looking, I had trouble with suspension of disbelief for much of the film. The nuances she excelled at were in the gamut of emotions experienced by Bree in her particularly unusual situation, even if her masculine tone of voice and awkward walk did little to make a viewer like me believe that she was supposed to be a man in woman's clothing. Transamerica succeeds in its well-written story and screenplay by writer and debut director Duncan Tucker. The heartfelt confusion and angst by both mother/father and deeply disturbed son is the soul of the film, and between Huffman and Zegers' performances and the direction eliciting those performances, the film was engaging throughout, and the characters were relatable and sympathetic. Transamerica is weakest, however, in some of the kitschy art direction and costuming and in some of the eccentric supporting performances. The divine Fionnula Flanagan appears as Bree's overwrought mother, who finds Bree's life choice ultimately tragic. There's no mistaking this feeling of hers because Flanagan takes her character to hysterically over-the-top dimensions, and, as a result and for the first time, I was turned off by her presence in a film. I enjoyed Graham Greene's brief cameo as an Indian trucker with a romantic interest in Bree, but I'm not sure what purpose his scene or story served the picture as a whole. I also found it interestingly stereotypical that Bree overcompensated for her lack of biological femininity by having the pinkest home and wardrobe I've ever seen. It was like Coco Chanel without the flattering outlines and felt as over the top as Flanagan's performance, even as Huffman's sympathetic portrayal of Bree was charmingly understated. The soundtrack, however, was excellent. All of the songs were so appropriate for the mood or emotion being explored, and I think Mr. Tucker has some true potential in film if he continues his career. I don't remember any one particular song, but I do remember thinking that the film was made more enjoyable by the choice of music in the background. In fact, all in all, Transamerica was a pleasant and refreshingly humorous exploration not only of transsexuality but of the effects it has on loved ones, known and unknown. I say refreshing because so often, films covering this subject tend to explore fear and bigotry and the ill consequences of prejudice, so I find films like this and Hedwig and the Angry Inch to be more compelling because they have a humorous blush without compromising or sugarcoating the serious side. For my money, I enjoyed much of the film and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I think it deserves an 8 on the patented ratings scale for having minor flaws as noted above but being very good. I don't think it passes the patented test, though, because I can't see myself watching it more than once. Also, of the 2005 nominees for Best Actress, I've only otherwise seen the winning performance by Reese Witherspoon, and though I give many props to Felicity for taking on the difficult role of playing a transwoman, I still think wholeheartedly that Reese deserved the gold for channeling June Carter so well. Of course, all readers are open to agree or disagree if, you know, they go in for that sort of thing.
]]>Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:40:03 GMTpippin06Reel Thoughts6/8/2009 7:40:03 PMWhat's an Oscar Flashback (tm)? Read here: Next on my Netflix queue was Transamerica, for which Felicity Huffman was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar (film year, 2005; awarding year, 2006). The other nominees for Best Actress in this category were: Walk the Line - Reese Witherspoon (Winner) Mrs. Henderson Presents - Judi Dench Pride and Prejudice - Keira Knightley North Country - Charlize Theron This movie also represents the third of five LGBT-themed Oscar movies at the top of my Netflix queue (thanks to my stream of consciousness queuing). Just in case you were keeping track. I watched this film a couple of weeks ago. I'm starting to watch more films on my much-anticipated and needed two month break from community theater but am officially and woefully behind on the reviewing side. As such, some of these entries may not be the best, owing to the fact that I now have to comb deeper recesses of my memory to remember movie details than I normally would. Transamerica is about Bree (Huffman), born Stanley, a pre-operative transsexual woman who, shortly before surgery, learns she fathered a boy who is now 17 and in jail. Bree is happy to continue with the surgery, but her preop therapist (Elizabeth Pena), believes that Bree must confront her past fully before accepting her re-engendered future. Bree posts bail for Toby (Kevin Zegers) in New York City but does so posing as a charity worker and agrees to transport Toby to Los Angeles. She buys a car and gets to know her long-lost son, all the while maintaining the secret of who she really is, particularly after learning that Toby is, himself, painfully searching for his long-lost father. Transamerica had a lot of heart. The story, which could have been turned into a cringingly soap-opera type affair, was actually told with humor and the slightest tinge of sardonic cynicism, making it endearing and entertaining. Felicity Huffman was wonderful in the role, though, as she is Lynette Scavo on Desperate Housewives, and as I don't think she is particularly mannish looking, I had trouble with suspension of disbelief for much of the film. The nuances she excelled at were in the gamut of emotions experienced by Bree in her particularly unusual situation, even if her masculine tone of voice and awkward walk did little to make a viewer like me believe that she was supposed to be a man in woman's clothing. Transamerica succeeds in its well-written story and screenplay by writer and debut director Duncan Tucker. The heartfelt confusion and angst by both mother/father and deeply disturbed son is the soul of the film, and between Huffman and Zegers' performances and the direction eliciting those performances, the film was engaging throughout, and the characters were relatable and sympathetic. Transamerica is weakest, however, in some of the kitschy art direction and costuming and in some of the eccentric supporting performances. The divine Fionnula Flanagan appears as Bree's overwrought mother, who finds Bree's life choice ultimately tragic. There's no mistaking this feeling of hers because Flanagan takes her character to hysterically over-the-top dimensions, and, as a result and for the first time, I was turned off by her presence in a film. I enjoyed Graham Greene's brief cameo as an Indian trucker with a romantic interest in Bree, but I'm not sure what purpose his scene or story served the picture as a whole. I also found it interestingly stereotypical that Bree overcompensated for her lack of biological femininity by having the pinkest home and wardrobe I've ever seen. It was like Coco Chanel without the flattering outlines and felt as over the top as Flanagan's performance, even as Huffman's sympathetic portrayal of Bree was charmingly understated. The soundtrack, however, was excellent. All of the songs were so appropriate for the mood or emotion being explored, and I think Mr. Tucker has some true potential in film if he continues his career. I don't remember any one particular song, but I do remember thinking that the film was made more enjoyable by the choice of music in the background. In fact, all in all, Transamerica was a pleasant and refreshingly humorous exploration not only of transsexuality but of the effects it has on loved ones, known and unknown. I say refreshing because so often, films covering this subject tend to explore fear and bigotry and the ill consequences of prejudice, so I find films like this and Hedwig and the Angry Inch to be more compelling because they have a humorous blush without compromising or sugarcoating the serious side. For my money, I enjoyed much of the film and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I think it deserves an 8 on the patented ratings scale for having minor flaws as noted above but being very good. I don't think it passes the patented test, though, because I can't see myself watching it more than once. Also, of the 2005 nominees for Best Actress, I've only otherwise seen the winning performance by Reese Witherspoon, and though I give many props to Felicity for taking on the difficult role of playing a transwoman, I still think wholeheartedly that Reese deserved the gold for channeling June Carter so well. Of course, all readers are open to agree or disagree if, you know, they go in for that sort of thing. http://www.spout.com/blogs/rebelprince89/archive/2009/4/24/41735.aspx Post By: rebelprince89
Post To: rebelprince89 Blog
Post Date: 4/24/2009 2:42:37 PM
Body: "Transamerica" is worth watching solely because of Felicity Huffman's performance. The terrific actress plays Bree, a not-quite-yet woman waiting for the final sex-reassignment operation. However, a couple of days before the operation, Bree gets a phone call from NYPD, informing her she has a son and that she needs to get there and bail him out. Bree reluctantly does that, but instead of telling her hustler son she is his mother, she tells him she is a missionary and offers to drive him to California, where he wants to become a porn actor. This is a movie with real people and real problems. On the way to the East Coast, there are many twists and turns awaiting Bree and her son, and it adds to the humanity of these two, well, unique people. A very admirable aspect of this movie is that it never treats transsexuals as jokes - and Felicity Huffman always plays her character with respect. It is truly an Oscar-worthy performance. Another outstanding performance here is by Kevin Zegers, playing Bree's problematic son - and just you wait 'till you see the background story. All in all, a movie to watch at least once, and an actress to cherish.
]]>Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:42:37 GMTrebelprince89rebelprince89 Blog4/24/2009 2:42:37 PM"Transamerica" is worth watching solely because of Felicity Huffman's performance. The terrific actress plays Bree, a not-quite-yet woman waiting for the final sex-reassignment operation. However, a couple of days before the operation, Bree gets a phone call from NYPD, informing her she has a son and that she needs to get there and bail him out. Bree reluctantly does that, but instead of telling her hustler son she is his mother, she tells him she is a missionary and offers to drive him to California, where he wants to become a porn actor. This is a movie with real people and real problems. On the way to the East Coast, there are many twists and turns awaiting Bree and her son, and it adds to the humanity of these two, well, unique people. A very admirable aspect of this movie is that it never treats transsexuals as jokes - and Felicity Huffman always plays her character with respect. It is truly an Oscar-worthy performance. Another outstanding performance here is by Kevin Zegers, playing Bree's problematic son - and just you wait 'till you see the background story. All in all, a movie to watch at least once, and an actress to cherish. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/10/34992.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/10/2008 2:01:18 PM
Body: For those who’ve been holding their hot and bothered breath, awaiting a response to the controversy surrounding my taboo-breaking afternoon tryst referenced by Steven Boone in his last column, come swing by Beyond The Green Door. For those ready to move on, please read on… I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again loud and proud: Eddie Izzard is my heroine! I get all happy-go-lucky girly inside just thinking about him. And not only because I spent a good hour and a half doubled over in a folding chair gasping for air like an oxygen-tank-deprived emphysema patient when I saw the John Cleese anointed “lost Python” at a small west side venue years ago, but because of who Izzard is offstage as well: an unashamed cross-dresser with fabulous taste in makeup and heels. I’ll admit I thought “sellout” when he started doing the gender conforming thing, publicly appearing in pants and facial hair, taking on the role of grifter/father Doug Rich on The Riches, but then I read a glorious NY Times interview he gave to Caryn James and two mind-blowing quotes chastened me. He doesn’t always mention being a transvestite in his shows, he said. But he did in the two I saw, and it worked as a disarming strategy: acknowledge it for fans who are wondering what happened, then move on. “I am a transvestite; I’m just off-duty at the moment,” he told the audience, and immediately went on, “I never was a transvestite; it was a tax thing.” As he explained later: “Some people would heckle me and say ‘Where’s the dress?’ and I’d say ‘Don’t oppress me, you Nazi’ — tends to shut them up. Because I have fought for the right to be able to wear a dress, not that I have to wear a dress. I didn’t jump out of a not-wearing-dress box into a have-to-wear-dress box.” Yes, this is why I look up to Eddie Izzard even as I’m doubled over staring at the floor: his ability to break a taboo and then break away. In fact, Izzard is growing up, not selling out, just going through what every one of us whose gender and/or sexuality don’t match society’s “norm” eventually face. How do you come out without having that part of yourself define you completely? It’s really no different from what any minority throughout history has had to deal with. How does Spike Lee go from being a “black filmmaker” to being just a filmmaker who happens to be black? In the same way Izzard is attempting to become a comic and actor who “happens to be” a transvestite. You begin by acknowledging the thing that defines you – and then move past it, others’ reactions be damned. It’s the only way for one to grow both as an artist and as a human being. She’s Gotta Have It Spike Lee is no less black for having directed the conventional crime thriller Inside Man. Likewise, Eddie Izzard will always be a cross-dresser whether he’s wearing sequins or suits (or both). In fact, heterosexual Izzard in pants is more a true transvestite than gay Divine ever was –– he only did drag onstage as part of his shtick, and indeed was gearing up to play a male role on Married With Children when he died. “Lost Python,” dramatic actor and trailblazing pioneer. That’s Eddie Izzard defined. So in honor of my leading lady I present a Golden Stiletto to three films that acknowledge, demystify then ultimately transcend taboo. Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist It’s extremely rare for me to get all choked up just writing about a film, but Kirby Dick’s phenomenal 1997 documentary, which follows the life of performance artist and cystic fibrosis sufferer Bob Flanagan and his Mistress Sheree Rose, bravely waging battle against CF with S&M, still takes my breath away (and it’s got nothing to do with the sensationalistic “nail through the penis” scene). For the most shocking thing about Sick is Dick’s poignant profiling of a relationship so deep, so compassionate, most couples would be lucky to experience one percent of what Flanagan and Rose shared. The sadomasochistic aspect takes a backseat to the miraculous love and art birthed from hellish pain that kept Flanagan alive a good twenty years past his supposed expiration date. And the ending in which Dick was allowed access to Flanagan’s last moments, with Rose desperately trying to “order” death away, is without a doubt one of the most heartrendingly painful scenes in any film. Don’t Netflix without Kleenex. Ditto for… Southern Comfort Kate Davis’ 2001 doc about transgender couple Robert Eads (a FTM who passes well enough to fool his good ole boy neighbors) and his girlfriend Lola Cola (a MTF who passes about as well as her name – and bravely couldn’t care less!) is another film in which the director smartly downplays prurience, in this case the by now humdrum sex change angle, in favor of a much more thrilling love story, in which the vow of “in sickness and in health, till death do us part” is truly tested and survives. Davis manages to capture the everyday domesticity of life in rural Georgia, of an average couple that happen to reside in bodies they weren’t born into – and valiantly refuse to make that fact the focus of their lives. And when faced with adversity they do it together. Indeed, the most wondrous aspect of Southern Comfort is that Robert and Lola would make the perfect poster couple for the family value’s crowd. Transamerica Put away the Kleenex. Duncan Tucker’s 2005 indie flick painstakingly dismantles every stereotype about transsexuals, hustlers, and “normal” heterosexuals to build a world of truth cannily within the confines of a comedic road movie. Felicity Huffman’s transitioning Bree – and why shouldn’t the MTF transgender lead, a real woman on the inside, be played by a real woman on the inside (and outside)? – with her long flowing skirts and acute self-awareness is the most conservative character in the film (as anyone desperately wanting to “pass” would be). Bree’s long lost son Toby, played by a wise-beyond-his-years Kevin Zegers, is the pitch perfect profile of a gay-for-pay hustler – young, handsome, charming, a recreational drug user with business savvy. And lost. As the two embark on a cross-country journey of self-discovery Tucker never veers off into heavy-handed melodrama, but gives his characters ample space to both grow and breathe. Bree and Toby prove that whoever we are, it’s always less important than where it is we’re going. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:01:18 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/10/2008 2:01:18 PMFor those who’ve been holding their hot and bothered breath, awaiting a response to the controversy surrounding my taboo-breaking afternoon tryst referenced by Steven Boone in his last column, come swing by Beyond The Green Door. For those ready to move on, please read on… I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again loud and proud: Eddie Izzard is my heroine! I get all happy-go-lucky girly inside just thinking about him. And not only because I spent a good hour and a half doubled over in a folding chair gasping for air like an oxygen-tank-deprived emphysema patient when I saw the John Cleese anointed “lost Python” at a small west side venue years ago, but because of who Izzard is offstage as well: an unashamed cross-dresser with fabulous taste in makeup and heels. I’ll admit I thought “sellout” when he started doing the gender conforming thing, publicly appearing in pants and facial hair, taking on the role of grifter/father Doug Rich on The Riches, but then I read a glorious NY Times interview he gave to Caryn James and two mind-blowing quotes chastened me. He doesn’t always mention being a transvestite in his shows, he said. But he did in the two I saw, and it worked as a disarming strategy: acknowledge it for fans who are wondering what happened, then move on. “I am a transvestite; I’m just off-duty at the moment,” he told the audience, and immediately went on, “I never was a transvestite; it was a tax thing.” As he explained later: “Some people would heckle me and say ‘Where’s the dress?’ and I’d say ‘Don’t oppress me, you Nazi’ — tends to shut them up. Because I have fought for the right to be able to wear a dress, not that I have to wear a dress. I didn’t jump out of a not-wearing-dress box into a have-to-wear-dress box.” Yes, this is why I look up to Eddie Izzard even as I’m doubled over staring at the floor: his ability to break a taboo and then break away. In fact, Izzard is growing up, not selling out, just going through what every one of us whose gender and/or sexuality don’t match society’s “norm” eventually face. How do you come out without having that part of yourself define you completely? It’s really no different from what any minority throughout history has had to deal with. How does Spike Lee go from being a “black filmmaker” to being just a filmmaker who happens to be black? In the same way Izzard is attempting to become a comic and actor who “happens to be” a transvestite. You begin by acknowledging the thing that defines you – and then move past it, others’ reactions be damned. It’s the only way for one to grow both as an artist and as a human being. She’s Gotta Have It Spike Lee is no less black for having directed the conventional crime thriller Inside Man. Likewise, Eddie Izzard will always be a cross-dresser whether he’s wearing sequins or suits (or both). In fact, heterosexual Izzard in pants is more a true transvestite than gay Divine ever was –– he only did drag onstage as part of his shtick, and indeed was gearing up to play a male role on Married With Children when he died. “Lost Python,” dramatic actor and trailblazing pioneer. That’s Eddie Izzard defined. So in honor of my leading lady I present a Golden Stiletto to three films that acknowledge, demystify then ultimately transcend taboo. Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist It’s extremely rare for me to get all choked up just writing about a film, but Kirby Dick’s phenomenal 1997 documentary, which follows the life of performance artist and cystic fibrosis sufferer Bob Flanagan and his Mistress Sheree Rose, bravely waging battle against CF with S&M, still takes my breath away (and it’s got nothing to do with the sensationalistic “nail through the penis” scene). For the most shocking thing about Sick is Dick’s poignant profiling of a relationship so deep, so compassionate, most couples would be lucky to experience one percent of what Flanagan and Rose shared. The sadomasochistic aspect takes a backseat to the miraculous love and art birthed from hellish pain that kept Flanagan alive a good twenty years past his supposed expiration date. And the ending in which Dick was allowed access to Flanagan’s last moments, with Rose desperately trying to “order” death away, is without a doubt one of the most heartrendingly painful scenes in any film. Don’t Netflix without Kleenex. Ditto for… Southern Comfort Kate Davis’ 2001 doc about transgender couple Robert Eads (a FTM who passes well enough to fool his good ole boy neighbors) and his girlfriend Lola Cola (a MTF who passes about as well as her name – and bravely couldn’t care less!) is another film in which the director smartly downplays prurience, in this case the by now humdrum sex change angle, in favor of a much more thrilling love story, in which the vow of “in sickness and in health, till death do us part” is truly tested and survives. Davis manages to capture the everyday domesticity of life in rural Georgia, of an average couple that happen to reside in bodies they weren’t born into – and valiantly refuse to make that fact the focus of their lives. And when faced with adversity they do it together. Indeed, the most wondrous aspect of Southern Comfort is that Robert and Lola would make the perfect poster couple for the family value’s crowd. Transamerica Put away the Kleenex. Duncan Tucker’s 2005 indie flick painstakingly dismantles every stereotype about transsexuals, hustlers, and “normal” heterosexuals to build a world of truth cannily within the confines of a comedic road movie. Felicity Huffman’s transitioning Bree – and why shouldn’t the MTF transgender lead, a real woman on the inside, be played by a real woman on the inside (and outside)? – with her long flowing skirts and acute self-awareness is the most conservative character in the film (as anyone desperately wanting to “pass” would be). Bree’s long lost son Toby, played by a wise-beyond-his-years Kevin Zegers, is the pitch perfect profile of a gay-for-pay hustler – young, handsome, charming, a recreational drug user with business savvy. And lost. As the two embark on a cross-country journey of self-discovery Tucker never veers off into heavy-handed melodrama, but gives his characters ample space to both grow and breathe. Bree and Toby prove that whoever we are, it’s always less important than where it is we’re going. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/cinemarian/archive/2008/5/12/28621.aspx Post By: CinemaRian
Post To: CinemaRian Blog
Post Date: 5/12/2008 11:54:08 AM
Body: The stars seemed to be in alignment for me to dislike Transamerica. For one thing, it's a road movie. For another, it had the reputation of being a Clever Comedy. For a third, it's a comedy about a subject that's not that inherently funny. But in one of my happier cinematic surprises in recent memory, I found the film to be quite pleasant, although I still think it got more attention than it deserved. The movie is about a Los Angeles biological male about to undergo a transsexual operation. For the sake of connivance, I will refer to Bree (Felicity Huffman) in the feminine vernacular. Days before the schedule procedure, she receives a phone call from a teenager named Toby (Kevin Zeggers), who is looking for his biological father, and Bree is mortified to learn that he is a product of her one and only sexual encounter. She tries to put Toby out of her mind until her psychologist (Elizabeth Pena) refuses to permit Bree to go through the operation until she meets with and comes to term with her son. Desperate, she flies to New York and meets Toby, a male prostitute and drug user. Not able to reveal her true identity, Bree poses as a Jesus freak who will give him a trip to LA out of charity. Anyone who has ever seen a road movie will not be surprised to learn that there is going to be some lessons learned and hardcore bonding on the road trip. But somehow, the movie is entertaining through its clichés. This is largely due to the Huffman's performance. I never really believer her as a biological male, but I really like Bree and her sardonic wit. Huffman (who was nominated for an Oscar) also has great chemistry with Zeggers, who shares his father/mother's stubbornness. The movie avoids being a Clever Comedy because screenwriter and director Duncan Hunter genuinely likes and never condescends his characters. There's never the feeling of superiority we get in Rushmore or Little Miss Sunshine. That doesn't mean the movie is completely flawless- Bree's mother (Fionnula Flanagan) is so over the top that it feels like she's from another movie, and I didn't buy the ending, which in which Kevin does something that, based on his nature, he would never do. Transamerica is not a great movie but it's pleasant diversion with some very endearing characters. Transamerica (2005)
]]>Mon, 12 May 2008 15:54:08 GMTCinemaRianCinemaRian Blog5/12/2008 11:54:08 AMThe stars seemed to be in alignment for me to dislike Transamerica. For one thing, it's a road movie. For another, it had the reputation of being a Clever Comedy. For a third, it's a comedy about a subject that's not that inherently funny. But in one of my happier cinematic surprises in recent memory, I found the film to be quite pleasant, although I still think it got more attention than it deserved. The movie is about a Los Angeles biological male about to undergo a transsexual operation. For the sake of connivance, I will refer to Bree (Felicity Huffman) in the feminine vernacular. Days before the schedule procedure, she receives a phone call from a teenager named Toby (Kevin Zeggers), who is looking for his biological father, and Bree is mortified to learn that he is a product of her one and only sexual encounter. She tries to put Toby out of her mind until her psychologist (Elizabeth Pena) refuses to permit Bree to go through the operation until she meets with and comes to term with her son. Desperate, she flies to New York and meets Toby, a male prostitute and drug user. Not able to reveal her true identity, Bree poses as a Jesus freak who will give him a trip to LA out of charity. Anyone who has ever seen a road movie will not be surprised to learn that there is going to be some lessons learned and hardcore bonding on the road trip. But somehow, the movie is entertaining through its clich&eacute;s. This is largely due to the Huffman's performance. I never really believer her as a biological male, but I really like Bree and her sardonic wit. Huffman (who was nominated for an Oscar) also has great chemistry with Zeggers, who shares his father/mother's stubbornness. The movie avoids being a Clever Comedy because screenwriter and director Duncan Hunter genuinely likes and never condescends his characters. There's never the feeling of superiority we get in Rushmore or Little Miss Sunshine. That doesn't mean the movie is completely flawless- Bree's mother (Fionnula Flanagan) is so over the top that it feels like she's from another movie, and I didn't buy the ending, which in which Kevin does something that, based on his nature, he would never do. Transamerica is not a great movie but it's pleasant diversion with some very endearing characters. Transamerica (2005) http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2007/11/2/21376.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 11/2/2007 2:01:51 PM
Body: The most welcome film festival news of the week comes from The Hollywood Reporter, by way of The Reeler. In a bid to increase their profile as an independent film marketplace, the Tribeca Film Festival will cut the size of their feature slate by as much as 25 percent. A program of 120 films would put Tribeca in the same league, size-wise, as Sundance, which is clearly the intention: “We realize our audience is getting a little overwhelmed by all of our titles,” said Tribeca co-exec director Nancy Schafer. Last year, nearly 30 titles were acquired out of Tribeca, but many were bought by smaller distributors; with the new focus, the festival hopes to bring in bigger buyers and yield more high-profile deals. “We’ve had a lot of movies bought out of the festival but we haven’t had our Sex, Lies & Videotape yet,” Schafer said. “That’s what we want, and that’s what the industry wants.” Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 film, of course, helped to cement Sundance’s status as the highest profile festival market in the States. The most successful titles to sell at Tribeca thus far have been Jesus Camp and Transamerica. Both were Oscar nominated, but neither really set the zeitgeist on fire, 90s style. So I can only see this as good news. I’ve been bitching for years that Tribeca has been too big, and too unfocused. If these promised changes actually stick, I’ll be the first to congratulate the Tribeca team on a step in the right direction. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 02 Nov 2007 18:01:51 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com11/2/2007 2:01:51 PMThe most welcome film festival news of the week comes from The Hollywood Reporter, by way of The Reeler. In a bid to increase their profile as an independent film marketplace, the Tribeca Film Festival will cut the size of their feature slate by as much as 25 percent. A program of 120 films would put Tribeca in the same league, size-wise, as Sundance, which is clearly the intention: “We realize our audience is getting a little overwhelmed by all of our titles,” said Tribeca co-exec director Nancy Schafer. Last year, nearly 30 titles were acquired out of Tribeca, but many were bought by smaller distributors; with the new focus, the festival hopes to bring in bigger buyers and yield more high-profile deals. “We’ve had a lot of movies bought out of the festival but we haven’t had our Sex, Lies & Videotape yet,” Schafer said. “That’s what we want, and that’s what the industry wants.” Steven Soderbergh’s 1989 film, of course, helped to cement Sundance’s status as the highest profile festival market in the States. The most successful titles to sell at Tribeca thus far have been Jesus Camp and Transamerica. Both were Oscar nominated, but neither really set the zeitgeist on fire, 90s style. So I can only see this as good news. I’ve been bitching for years that Tribeca has been too big, and too unfocused. If these promised changes actually stick, I’ll be the first to congratulate the Tribeca team on a step in the right direction. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/moviebabe/archive/2007/7/18/15224.aspx Post By: MovieBabe
Post To: MovieBabe Blog
Post Date: 7/18/2007 5:15:00 PM
Body: By Tricia Olszewski There are two ways you can take Patrick “Kitten” Braden, the Irish transvestite at the center of Breakfast on Pluto: (1) as a long-suffering but ever-hopeful boy/girl who just wants to find love, be it from the mother who abandoned him or one of the many men who like the cut of his cheekbones, or (2) as an irritating twit whose idea of femininity comprises ditzy cheer, breathy come-ons, and quick, smothering intimacy. But even if you choose the latter, you’ll most likely feel a little bad for Kitten (Cillian Murphy) whenever Bobby Goldsboro’s mournful “Honey” plays in the background. Something of a theme song of Kitten’s, the string-laden 1968 hit gets three spins during Neil Jordan’s 135-minute latest. Naturally, Kitten doesn’t identify with the song’s gut-wrenched husband; rather, he sees himself as poor Honey—someone who dies tragically young, putting her lover through unimaginable pain and guilt. Almost immediately after meeting them, Kitten asks three separate suitors, “If you came home and found me on the floor, would you take me to the hospital?” Beneath his otherworldly loveliness, you see, Kitten is a wounded soul. As the son of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Bernard (Liam Neeson), and his blond housekeeper, Eily (Eva Birthistle)—allegedly a dead ringer for actress Mitzi Gaynor—he couldn’t be anything but. Eily leaves little Patrick on Father Bernard’s doorstep, though he’s soon given to a curmudgeonly foster mother who reacts quite badly when she first finds him putting on dresses and makeup. (“‘I’m a boy, not a girl!’” she makes the 10-year-old (Conor McEvoy) repeat, adding “I curse the day I ever took yuh in!” for good measure.) Patrick’s trouble with authority only gets worse at school, where he’s always being dragged by the ear to the principal’s office, once for using a composition assignment to imagine his parents’ coupling. Co-written by Jordan and Patrick McCabe, on whose novel the film is based, Pluto speeds through Kitten’s life, divided into 36 “chapters” that visit the character’s most influential experiences. The gist of this haphazardly told story is that Kitten wants to find his “Phantom Lady” Mom even more than he wants to be a girl—not that the latter really takes much effort. After leaving small-town Tyreelin for London, where Eily is supposed to live, Kitten seems to attract only men who know exactly what they’re getting into. In a wink at The Crying Game, Stephen Rea plays a magician who tells Kitten he could fall for “a girl like you.” When Kitten tells him he’s not a girl, the magician replies, “I know. I said a girl like you.” Jordan uses plenty of music besides “Honey” to steer the viewer through the narrative’s various sharp turns. Overwhelmingly bouncy ’70s pop (the Rubettes’ “Sugar Baby Love,” Harry Nilsson’s “You’re Breakin’ My Heart” ) predominates, symbolically punctuated with slit-yer-wrist-ers (Kris Kristofferson’s “For the Good Times”). The director also throws in digitized birds, cheeky subtitles, Bryan Ferry, a member of the Virgin Prunes, and the inevitable lamé-clad fantasy sequence. Relentlessly loopy, the film aims to prove that, aside from the love of a wee lost boy for his mam, sass and sparkle conquer all. The songs, at least, keep Pluto skipping breezily through its running time. Whether they’re enough to keep you sympathetic toward Kitten is another issue. Murphy’s role is obviously quite a contrast to his other 2005 characters, Batman Begins’ the Scarecrow and the homicidal villain in Red Eye. But just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s remarkable: Murphy uses a ridiculously high-pitched voice that quickly gets grating, and his giggling, flirty take on womanly mannerisms goes beyond queenliness into caricature. Worse, as Pluto goes on—with IRA-related confrontations and bombings, one of which Kitten witnesses in slo-mo, one of which he’s suspected of—it becomes increasingly clear that its hero is flat-out delusional, living inside the fairy tale he concocted in school and overwhelmingly oblivious to the realities of the world. “Serious, serious, serious,” Kitten chides anyone whose feet remain on Earth. Vagabonding his way across the British Isles and surviving on the kindness of strangers, Kitten eventually realizes who his friends are and becomes the happy member of an alternative family. With “Sugar Baby Love” returning to accompany a zooming-out shot of the new clan, Breakfast on Pluto’s finale is supposed to be joyful. If there were anything behind all that sass and sparkle, you might be convinced. Transamerica turns Breakfast on Pluto on its empty little head. In writer-director Duncan Tucker’s feature debut, a pre-op transsexual named Bree discovers that back when she was an experimental college student named Stanley, he fathered a son. When Bree agrees, at the insistence of her therapist, to bail the kid out of a New York jail, she just wants to drop him off somewhere safe and get back to Los Angeles for her long-awaited transformation. Bree, it should be pointed out, is played by a woman. Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman does the honors, with makeup realistic enough that it reportedly traumatized her daughter during a visit to the set. The film opens abruptly, with a shot of a young woman in an instructional video slowly bringing her voice down octave by octave. Then Tucker cuts to Bree getting dressed for the day, smiling in the mirror before she heads to her psychiatrist to get one of two signatures needed for her gender-reassignment surgery. But she lets slip that she’s received a call from someone claiming to be Stanley’s son, and Margaret (Elizabeth Peña) refuses to sign the papers until Bree deals with the situation. When Bree flies to New York to get the attitudinal Toby (Kevin Zegers) out of the clink, Toby assumes she’s a church volunteer. Relieved that she doesn’t have to explain who she is, Bree says that she’s from the “Church of the Potential Father,” returns Toby to his decrepit apartment, and gets ready to light out for L.A. The squalor and Toby’s intention to hitch to California to become an actor soften Bree, though, so she gets a cheap car and the two head into the non-punny part of the film’s title. Besides Bree’s still-unrevealed secret, Tucker’s version of the road trip is pretty typical: sunrises, sunsets, blindingly bright afternoons on desolate roads as the pair travel to Kentucky, where the boy grew up, and Colorado, where Bree grew up. They’re silent; they make conversation; they argue. Tucker accompanies their drive with salvation-seeking bluegrass, including a ditty that implores, “Lord, take away these chains from me.” Tucker and Huffman—whose lowered but feminine voice and not-quite-right-carriage are terrific—make Bree not a flamboyant female impersonator but a rather proper lady. Even before she and Toby become close, Bree acts like a parent who won’t let her child get away with anything, from poor table manners to drug use, dishing out the discipline with lilting sarcasm. (When Toby wants cigarettes and asks what Bree means by her response of “Quel dommage,” she answers, “It means you’re not getting any cigarettes.”) Dad is also constantly trying to discourage Toby from searching for his father (“I’m a loner,” Toby says in a diner. “That’s wonderful! That’s the spirit!” Bree replies), but she does bring him to visit her own parents (Burt Young and Fionnula Flanagan), who lavish attention on their grandchild without Toby’s ever knowing why. That reunion also shows us why Bree tells people her parents are dead—one reason Huffman’s character is a lot easier to like than Murphy’s Kitten. Bree is a person trapped in a world much glitzier than she is, someone whose limiting circumstances include working two menial jobs and having a penis that disgusts her. The film she’s in is a lot easier to like, too, especially for its non-fairy-tale-ish take on achieving contentment: When a doctor, before he gives consent for Bree’s surgery, asks her if she’s happy, she responds, “Yes. I mean no. I mean I will be.”
]]>Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:15:00 GMTMovieBabeMovieBabe Blog7/18/2007 5:15:00 PM By Tricia Olszewski There are two ways you can take Patrick &ldquo;Kitten&rdquo; Braden, the Irish transvestite at the center of Breakfast on Pluto: (1) as a long-suffering but ever-hopeful boy/girl who just wants to find love, be it from the mother who abandoned him or one of the many men who like the cut of his cheekbones, or (2) as an irritating twit whose idea of femininity comprises ditzy cheer, breathy come-ons, and quick, smothering intimacy. But even if you choose the latter, you&rsquo;ll most likely feel a little bad for Kitten (Cillian Murphy) whenever Bobby Goldsboro&rsquo;s mournful &ldquo;Honey&rdquo; plays in the background. Something of a theme song of Kitten&rsquo;s, the string-laden 1968 hit gets three spins during Neil Jordan&rsquo;s 135-minute latest. Naturally, Kitten doesn&rsquo;t identify with the song&rsquo;s gut-wrenched husband; rather, he sees himself as poor Honey&mdash;someone who dies tragically young, putting her lover through unimaginable pain and guilt. Almost immediately after meeting them, Kitten asks three separate suitors, &ldquo;If you came home and found me on the floor, would you take me to the hospital?&rdquo; Beneath his otherworldly loveliness, you see, Kitten is a wounded soul. As the son of an Irish Catholic priest, Father Bernard (Liam Neeson), and his blond housekeeper, Eily (Eva Birthistle)&mdash;allegedly a dead ringer for actress Mitzi Gaynor&mdash;he couldn&rsquo;t be anything but. Eily leaves little Patrick on Father Bernard&rsquo;s doorstep, though he&rsquo;s soon given to a curmudgeonly foster mother who reacts quite badly when she first finds him putting on dresses and makeup. (&ldquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m a boy, not a girl!&rsquo;&rdquo; she makes the 10-year-old (Conor McEvoy) repeat, adding &ldquo;I curse the day I ever took yuh in!&rdquo; for good measure.) Patrick&rsquo;s trouble with authority only gets worse at school, where he&rsquo;s always being dragged by the ear to the principal&rsquo;s office, once for using a composition assignment to imagine his parents&rsquo; coupling. Co-written by Jordan and Patrick McCabe, on whose novel the film is based, Pluto speeds through Kitten&rsquo;s life, divided into 36 &ldquo;chapters&rdquo; that visit the character&rsquo;s most influential experiences. The gist of this haphazardly told story is that Kitten wants to find his &ldquo;Phantom Lady&rdquo; Mom even more than he wants to be a girl&mdash;not that the latter really takes much effort. After leaving small-town Tyreelin for London, where Eily is supposed to live, Kitten seems to attract only men who know exactly what they&rsquo;re getting into. In a wink at The Crying Game, Stephen Rea plays a magician who tells Kitten he could fall for &ldquo;a girl like you.&rdquo; When Kitten tells him he&rsquo;s not a girl, the magician replies, &ldquo;I know. I said a girl like you.&rdquo; Jordan uses plenty of music besides &ldquo;Honey&rdquo; to steer the viewer through the narrative&rsquo;s various sharp turns. Overwhelmingly bouncy &rsquo;70s pop (the Rubettes&rsquo; &ldquo;Sugar Baby Love,&rdquo; Harry Nilsson&rsquo;s &ldquo;You&rsquo;re Breakin&rsquo; My Heart&rdquo; ) predominates, symbolically punctuated with slit-yer-wrist-ers (Kris Kristofferson&rsquo;s &ldquo;For the Good Times&rdquo;). The director also throws in digitized birds, cheeky subtitles, Bryan Ferry, a member of the Virgin Prunes, and the inevitable lam&eacute;-clad fantasy sequence. Relentlessly loopy, the film aims to prove that, aside from the love of a wee lost boy for his mam, sass and sparkle conquer all. The songs, at least, keep Pluto skipping breezily through its running time. Whether they&rsquo;re enough to keep you sympathetic toward Kitten is another issue. Murphy&rsquo;s role is obviously quite a contrast to his other 2005 characters, Batman Begins&rsquo; the Scarecrow and the homicidal villain in Red Eye. But just because it&rsquo;s different doesn&rsquo;t mean it&rsquo;s remarkable: Murphy uses a ridiculously high-pitched voice that quickly gets grating, and his giggling, flirty take on womanly mannerisms goes beyond queenliness into caricature. Worse, as Pluto goes on&mdash;with IRA-related confrontations and bombings, one of which Kitten witnesses in slo-mo, one of which he&rsquo;s suspected of&mdash;it becomes increasingly clear that its hero is flat-out delusional, living inside the fairy tale he concocted in school and overwhelmingly oblivious to the realities of the world. &ldquo;Serious, serious, serious,&rdquo; Kitten chides anyone whose feet remain on Earth. Vagabonding his way across the British Isles and surviving on the kindness of strangers, Kitten eventually realizes who his friends are and becomes the happy member of an alternative family. With &ldquo;Sugar Baby Love&rdquo; returning to accompany a zooming-out shot of the new clan, Breakfast on Pluto&rsquo;s finale is supposed to be joyful. If there were anything behind all that sass and sparkle, you might be convinced. Transamerica turns Breakfast on Pluto on its empty little head. In writer-director Duncan Tucker&rsquo;s feature debut, a pre-op transsexual named Bree discovers that back when she was an experimental college student named Stanley, he fathered a son. When Bree agrees, at the insistence of her therapist, to bail the kid out of a New York jail, she just wants to drop him off somewhere safe and get back to Los Angeles for her long-awaited transformation. Bree, it should be pointed out, is played by a woman. Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman does the honors, with makeup realistic enough that it reportedly traumatized her daughter during a visit to the set. The film opens abruptly, with a shot of a young woman in an instructional video slowly bringing her voice down octave by octave. Then Tucker cuts to Bree getting dressed for the day, smiling in the mirror before she heads to her psychiatrist to get one of two signatures needed for her gender-reassignment surgery. But she lets slip that she&rsquo;s received a call from someone claiming to be Stanley&rsquo;s son, and Margaret (Elizabeth Pe&ntilde;a) refuses to sign the papers until Bree deals with the situation. When Bree flies to New York to get the attitudinal Toby (Kevin Zegers) out of the clink, Toby assumes she&rsquo;s a church volunteer. Relieved that she doesn&rsquo;t have to explain who she is, Bree says that she&rsquo;s from the &ldquo;Church of the Potential Father,&rdquo; returns Toby to his decrepit apartment, and gets ready to light out for L.A. The squalor and Toby&rsquo;s intention to hitch to California to become an actor soften Bree, though, so she gets a cheap car and the two head into the non-punny part of the film&rsquo;s title. Besides Bree&rsquo;s still-unrevealed secret, Tucker&rsquo;s version of the road trip is pretty typical: sunrises, sunsets, blindingly bright afternoons on desolate roads as the pair travel to Kentucky, where the boy grew up, and Colorado, where Bree grew up. They&rsquo;re silent; they make conversation; they argue. Tucker accompanies their drive with salvation-seeking bluegrass, including a ditty that implores, &ldquo;Lord, take away these chains from me.&rdquo; Tucker and Huffman&mdash;whose lowered but feminine voice and not-quite-right-carriage are terrific&mdash;make Bree not a flamboyant female impersonator but a rather proper lady. Even before she and Toby become close, Bree acts like a parent who won&rsquo;t let her child get away with anything, from poor table manners to drug use, dishing out the discipline with lilting sarcasm. (When Toby wants cigarettes and asks what Bree means by her response of &ldquo;Quel dommage,&rdquo; she answers, &ldquo;It means you&rsquo;re not getting any cigarettes.&rdquo;) Dad is also constantly trying to discourage Toby from searching for his father (&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a loner,&rdquo; Toby says in a diner. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s wonderful! That&rsquo;s the spirit!&rdquo; Bree replies), but she does bring him to visit her own parents (Burt Young and Fionnula Flanagan), who lavish attention on their grandchild without Toby&rsquo;s ever knowing why. That reunion also shows us why Bree tells people her parents are dead&mdash;one reason Huffman&rsquo;s character is a lot easier to like than Murphy&rsquo;s Kitten. Bree is a person trapped in a world much glitzier than she is, someone whose limiting circumstances include working two menial jobs and having a penis that disgusts her. The film she&rsquo;s in is a lot easier to like, too, especially for its non-fairy-tale-ish take on achieving contentment: When a doctor, before he gives consent for Bree&rsquo;s surgery, asks her if she&rsquo;s happy, she responds, &ldquo;Yes. I mean no. I mean I will be.&rdquo; http://www.spout.com/blogs/wonga/archive/2007/1/2/4939.aspx Post By: wonga
Post To: wonga's filmblog
Post Date: 1/2/2007 3:21:00 PM
Body: i saw 97 movies last year and it was hard to narrow them down but these are my favorites from 2006 for whatever reasons (i tried for 10 but just couldn't make it)! some are from 2005 and were seen later. i hope 2007 is half as good...TOP 15 LIST FOR 2006 MOVIES Sweet Land The Departed Paradise Now Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada Neil Young: Heart Of Gold The Heart Of The Game Little Miss Sunshine Shopgirl Quinceanara Transamerica Shut Up And Sing The Prestige The Illusionist The History Boys Charlotte’s WebHONORABLE MENTIONBabel Casino Royale Cave Of The Yellow Dog Deja Vu Half Nelson Hollywoodland Kinky Boots Running With Scissors Stranger Than Fiction The Devil Wears Prada The Namesake The Notorious Bettie Page The Queen Who Loves The Sun Wordplay
]]>Tue, 02 Jan 2007 20:21:00 GMTwongawonga's filmblog1/2/2007 3:21:00 PMi saw 97 movies last year and it was hard to narrow them down but these are my favorites from 2006 for whatever reasons (i tried for 10 but just couldn&#39;t make it)! some are from 2005 and were seen later. i hope 2007 is half as good...TOP 15 LIST FOR 2006 MOVIES Sweet Land The Departed Paradise Now Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada Neil Young: Heart Of Gold The Heart Of The Game Little Miss Sunshine Shopgirl Quinceanara Transamerica Shut Up And Sing The Prestige The Illusionist The History Boys Charlotte&rsquo;s WebHONORABLE MENTIONBabel Casino Royale Cave Of The Yellow Dog Deja Vu Half Nelson Hollywoodland Kinky Boots Running With Scissors Stranger Than Fiction The Devil Wears Prada The Namesake The Notorious Bettie Page The Queen Who Loves The Sun Wordplay http://www.spout.com/blogs/amie/archive/2006/3/1/245.aspx Post By: Amie
Post To: Amie Blog
Post Date: 3/1/2006 11:15:00 AM
Body: Last night, I saw a movie that I hadn't planned on seeing...I didn't even really know what it was. It just sounded interesting when my friend Andy and I got to the theater. This movie had the feel of something indie but mainstream at the same time. It was so honest and unafraid to illustrate a story about a male to female identity and transgenered individuals. It didn't poke fun at the situation, though there was humor in it. It wasn't a make-believe sort of "happy ending" but it wasn't tragic either. It was real. And I respect that. It was an endearing movie, on many levels. Transamerica really shed light on this lifestyle and how every decision has to be considered. I actually have a friend, a good friend of mine, who lives in another state now. Her boyfriend is transgenered. Born a female but mentally and emotionally, this person is male. She still loves him, regardless. She has fully accepted this, but it is something he constantly struggles with mentally and emotionally (as well as physically). My friend still considers herself heterosexual, because she loves her boyfriend as a male NOT a female. If that makes sense. It's very intriguing actually. There are just many levels to this movie. I enjoyed it. I highly recommend it.
]]>Wed, 01 Mar 2006 16:15:00 GMTAmieAmie Blog3/1/2006 11:15:00 AMLast night, I saw a movie that I hadn't planned on seeing...I didn't even really know what it was. It just sounded interesting when my friend Andy and I got to the theater. This movie had the feel of something indie but mainstream at the same time. It was so honest and unafraid to illustrate a story about a male to female identity and transgenered individuals. It didn't poke fun at the situation, though there was humor in it. It wasn't a make-believe sort of "happy ending" but it wasn't tragic either. It was real. And I respect that. It was an endearing movie, on many levels. Transamerica really shed light on this lifestyle and how every decision has to be considered. I actually have a friend, a good friend of mine, who lives in another state now. Her boyfriend is transgenered. Born a female but mentally and emotionally, this person is male. She still loves him, regardless. She has fully accepted this, but it is something he constantly struggles with mentally and emotionally (as well as physically). My friend still considers herself heterosexual, because she loves her boyfriend as a male NOT a female. If that makes sense. It's very intriguing actually. There are just many levels to this movie. I enjoyed it. I highly recommend it. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/family/MemberTagFilms.aspxfamily
Number of films tagged: 6288

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]]>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:09:21 GMT62882261138Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/cute/MemberTagFilms.aspxcute
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]]>Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:48:06 GMT232140111Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/wow/MemberTagFilms.aspxwow
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]]>Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:15:56 GMT283033Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/transsexual/MemberTagFilms.aspxtranssexual
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]]>Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:32:18 GMT561616Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/parent/MemberTagFilms.aspxparent
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]]>Wed, 27 May 2009 13:02:10 GMT9311314Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/therapist/MemberTagFilms.aspxtherapist
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]]>Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:13:22 GMT1281117Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/hustler/MemberTagFilms.aspxhustler
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]]>Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:53:30 GMT11388Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/lifestyle/MemberTagFilms.aspxlifestyle
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]]>Mon, 25 May 2009 21:32:07 GMT444Tag http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/bonding/MemberTagFilms.aspxbonding
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