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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.