Customer Reviews

Transamerica (Widescreen Edition)

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

"Transamerica" was easily the best film I have seen in months, and, furthermore, having just seen "Walk the Line" this week, I can say without any hesitation that the fact that Reese Witherspoon (who I loved in her role, as well) won the Oscar over Felicity Huffman is just wrong. Reese was adorable as June Carter, but Felicity Huffman's transformation in this film is astounding--the way she carries herself, the way she speaks, the subtle ways in which Bree becomes more and more comfortable in her body as the film progresses...it was a revelatory performance. There was not one moment where I didn't fully believe that she was a woman who used to look like a man learning how to be a woman in her new body. And she makes Bree so relatable, which is an enormous accomplishment considering transsexuality is a topic that makes so many people uncomfortable.

I'm not even going to get into complaining that this should have been nominated (and won) for Best Picture as well, because, really, what's the point? But suffice it to say, it was brilliant, and also restrained. Although I am a fan of indie films, many of them do tend to have a pretentious streak, and this one did not. It was heartfelt, honest, funny, painful at times, and also short. Too short, in fact. I wanted to stay with these characters much longer. Btw, Kevin Zegers, who played her newfound son, gave a fantastic performance as well. It takes a great deal of talent to be paired with an actress of Felicity Huffman's skill and to not come across as inferior by comparison. He deserves just as much acclaim as she received. Even the screenplay was underrated. Many critics praised Huffman but denigrated the bulk of the film itself, and I could not disagree more with that, either. It's just a shame when such a great work at this is so completely unappreciated.

It's always refreshing around awards season to witness a performance by an actress that you know is going to make a big impression. In Transamerica, Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman just astounds, in a feat of acting that is nothing short of extraordinary. This is a poignant and often deliriously funny road-trip film and Huffman sinks her teeth into playing a sensitive, yet conflicted preoperative transsexual with such a refreshing candor that most viewers will be just blown away by the film.

The film marks an auspicious debut for writer-director Duncan Tucker, who spins a marvelous tale of a reluctant but curious dad who learns he has a son. The dad, however is soon to become a woman, and is now decked out in tasteful and chic pastels, but the film cleverly avoids the cliché's, thanks to Tucker's sensitive hand and the subtle work of Huffman and the rest of the pitch-perfect cast, especially Kevin Zegers as the lost-and-found offspring.

Huffman plays Bree/Stanley a self-contained preoperative transsexual who lives in her little Los Angeles bungalow, and works as a waitress in a local colourful Mexican restaurant. We first meet her a week before she is to have her gender reassignment surgery and her closest friend is her compassionate and kindly therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Pena).

But just before the ultimate surgical step is due to take place, she receives a phone call from a 17-year-old New York inmate, who claims to be Stanley's son. Of course, Bree has come too far to let anything derail her surgery - she is so single-minded that she dismisses the unwanted disruption. However, when Margaret learns of the phone call and her patient's offspring, she refuses to OK the medical procedure until Bree goes to New York to address the matter.

Bree flies East to help the boy, who has run away from home after his mother's suicide. Allowing him to think that she is a Christian missionary - her upright, churchly bearing makes it easy to believe - she decides to take him back to rural Kentucky, where his stepfather lives. She buys a chartreuse station wagon to drive Toby cross-country, but Toby, rather than returning to Kentucky, wants to go to Los Angles where he expects to find his father living large and hopes to break into movies -- of the San Fernando Valley sort.

The film is full of unexpected twists and turns, as Bree and Toby traverse the country eating in homey little roadside cafes, staying in comfy hotels, and even camping out. Soon they're developing an uncommon and strangely likable bond. This is the land where banjos and acoustic guitars compete with the crickets and loons, and along the way they meet a variety of characters from a free-spirited vegan hitcher (Grant Monohon) to a gentlemanly New Mexico rancher (Graham Greene) who gallantly comes to Bree's assistance, more than a bit smitten.

It is only after an incident on the road that the couple is forced to confront Bree's parents in their kitsch Phoenix mansion. Her father, Murray (Burt Young), is an easygoing fellow in loose-fitting linen, but it is her mother, Elizabeth (the astonishing Fionnula Flanagan), who commands our attention. With her peroxide curls, silk pantsuits and heavy makeup, she might be an aging movie diva, and she has the volatile temperament to prove it. She's absolutely repulsed by her son's new look, but underneath the cold exterior, she's desperately trying to understand him.

The performances are all astounding, but this is Huffman's movie, and she totally steals the show, brilliantly embodying the complex layers of self-awareness and denial. She's prim and proper, but also raw and gutsy, and although she may not yet have totally got womanhood right, she's a lovely, sensitive kind hearted person, who we all know will end up being an absolutely gorgeous woman. It is not just that the actress plays a man who plays a woman, but also that she must impersonate a performer in the midst of learning a complicated role. Her performance is a complex metamorphosis - it is thrilling to watch and totally Oscar worthy.

As she each day she paints on a face and puts on a voice to become more truly herself, her uneasy self-consciousness is a constant, especially when a child's innocent but discerning question plunges Bree into despair. As a boy who is tempted by cheap drugs and uses the art of seduction to get his way, Zegers conveys Toby's essential sweetness and hunger for real affection, making him much more than just a vain or damaged kid.

But what makes Transamerica one of the year's best films is the sensitive and intuitive way that Tucker presents the world of transexualism. He never judges Bree, or preaches, and throughout the story there is much to be learned about the history and place transsexuals once had in society. The astute and intelligent script weaves laugh-out-loud humor into his characters' longing for acceptance, but most importantly, the director treats Bree as a fully rounded person, with all her quirks, insecurities and foibles, rather than some kind of objective, and scientific case study. Mike Leonard December 05.

Felicity Huffman plays desperate housewife Lynette Scavo on the popular TV miniseries DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, which, though occasionally immensely entertaining, is also Desperately Silly. In TRANSAMERICA, Huffman has a Big Screen gig that should indisputably prove that she's an actress of considerable ability. The other desperate housewives, actresses Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria, and Nicolette Sheridan, can only stand back and envy.

Here, Huffman is Bree Osbourne, born Stanley, a California man on the verge of the very last stage of his transgender transference, i.e. genital surgery that will, as he puts it, convert his "outey" to an "inney". In every other way, Stanley/Bree already presents to society as a female. What has otherwise been a relatively smooth transition hits a bump when Bree discovers, and must bail out of a New York City jail, his 17-year old transient son, Toby (Kevin Zegers), conceived in a long-ago liaison with a since-deceased girlfriend. Bree's problem is how to get Toby back to the Golden State without revealing to the teenager their biological relationship and the former's genetic gender. What's a poor girl to do?

When the creators were sitting around the table discussing casting for this clever film, there had to have been some argument. Do they find a man to play a man morphing to a woman, or a woman to play a man morphing to a woman? Their choice of Huffman was inspired, and it pays off brilliantly. This is perhaps not surprising as the excellent actor William H. Macy is the movie's producer (and, also, Huffman's real-life hubby). Indeed, Felicity's performance is eminently Oscar-worthy, and will be a definite eye-opener to audiences that are only familiar with her DH persona. Also notable in brief supporting roles are Graham Greene as the Navaho rancher, Calvin Manygoats, who gives Bree and Toby a ride after their car is stolen in New Mexico, and Fionnula Flanagan as Bree's distraught and resentful Jewish mother.

On the surface, TRANSAMERICA is a four-star, insightful, poignant, and amusing look at the practical problems associated with transgender transition. Huffman's performance, the best I can recall by an actress since Charlize Theron's triumph in MONSTER, elevates it to five-star, must-see status.

I imagine that James Dobson has ground his teeth down to the gums about Duncan Tucker's "Transamerica," and I only wish I'd been around to see it. Tucker deftly tests the limits of the idea of the non-traditional family as he tells the story of Bree, a pre-operative transsexual in L.A. who suddenly discovers that--in her previous life as Stanley--she fathered a son. She heads East to find that son, Toby, who is now a 17-year-old New York street hustler with ambitions of going West to become a gay porn actor. But just when you think John Waters and Divine are going to show up, Tucker turns the tables on us and transforms the story into a sweet, if somewhat skewed, road trip movie about how family members both harass and nurture each other. The trip is far from a joy ride: Toby has a major attitude problem (as well as a nascent drug problem), and Bree, obsessed with getting back to L.A. and her scheduled operation, tries to keep her true identity a secret. The ups and downs of their trip and its aftermath, however, keep the film funny, fresh, and above all moving. Felicity Huffman won a ton of awards and critical plaudits for her performance as Bree, and she deserved every one of them. The astonishingly handsome Kevin Zegers portrays Toby's confusion and anger with touching realism. There are also fine supporting performances from Elizabeth Pena, Burt Young, Carrie Preston, and especially from two of the all-time great character actors: Graham Greene, as a friendly Navajo rancher, and Fionnula Flanagan, as Bree's toxic smotherer of a mom. "Transamerica" contains a few missteps (I'd have to recount far too much of the plot to say what they were), but they are minor. On the whole, this is a road trip you'll be glad you took, with characters you'll be glad you met.

I had heard a lot about this movie, and was fairly eager to see it. I just finished watching it, so, while it's still fresh in my mind, I thought I'd say something about it.

It's true - it's less about the transgender lifestyle, more about human conflict. I didn't go into it thinking, "Oh, this is that transgender movie," and I was hardly disappointed when it took another turn.

It's a real gem. I'm not going to go into the plot, but it was well-thought out, and always interesting. It's the bittersweet story of a woman struggling to find her identity, dealing with the past of the man called Stanley...

I hate to be too cliche, but... I laughed, I cried, and I loved every minute of it. It moved along at just the right pace, the story unfolding one piece at a time. Just a tremendous film.

Transamerica is a heart-warming story about a transgendered woman, Bree (played fabulously by Felicity Huffman) about to get gender-reassignment surgery. Before getting the surgery, her therapist tells Bree that she must find her son. In the process, Bree comes to terms with her past and bonds with her son.

Felicity Huffman has taken on what cannot be an easy role and played it with compassion and painstaking care. She undoubtedly deserves all the attention she gets. Duncan Tucker writes and directs the very funny feature in his debut. The product is overall impressive, but Tucker gets a bit frivolous with his ridiculous humor (at times, it becomes too much like a sitcom) and sexual details. The parts that made me the queasiest were not, as one might expect, the transgender aspects, but rather the sexual exploits of Bree's son.

Dolly Parton's meaningful and Oscar-deserving song "Travelin' Thru" perfectly closes the movie.

Although it has already been said countless times, this was a performance of a life time for Felicity Huffman. After I saw the film I had an overwhelming sense of not only "movie euphoria" as put by The Wall Street Journal, but that the performance I had just witnessed would now be a barometer in which all others must measure. She embodied every aspect one wishes to see in a character, so much that is a movie about all humanity and not just the gender-challenged. This is the true intent of acting, to tell a story. That is was she did. I was literally moved to tears.

My curiousity to see "TRANSAMERICA" (2005) was based almost entirely on the critical raves it received, especially for Felicity Huffman's performance. Those honors (Best Actress wins in Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award, nominee for SAG and Academy Award) are well deserved, in an very difficult role as a male-to-female transexual, dealing with pre-op jitters, complicated by the sudden appearance of a teenage son (Kevin Zegers) she fathered and never knew about.

While Bree (Felicity's character) is clear about her transgender nature, and knows she is doing the right thing by going through with the operation, the emotional baggage from her childhood and earlier life make her passive and weak-spirited. She almost has to be bullied into flying from Los Angeles to New York City to meet her 16 year old son, in trouble with the police there after having run away from an abusive stepfather following his mother's death. Although very different from Toby, they are, in some ways, kindred spirits, in that both have low self-esteem and a degree of self-loathing. She chickens out from telling Toby she is his father, instead claiming to be a church missionary. He insists he wants to go to California, and they set out driving together cross country, learning about each other as well as themselves.

Huffman's acting (and makeup) is incredible, with her voice even descending further in one part of the film (when she is without her pre-op hormones). The handsome and talented Zegers is also perfect for his role, as a streetwise but somewhat insecure young man looking for love and acceptance. Beautifully photographed (in NY, AZ and CA), the screenplay is witty, realistic and positive. I was expecting the transexual aspect of the film to be front-and-center in the story, and was pleasantly surprised that it was almost incidental to the real focus of the story: learning to love and accept yourself as the first step in being able to relate to and love anyone else. The fact that the message could have just as easily been delivered by a gay or lesbian (or straight) character reinforces the concept that, as different as we may be on the surface, we are all really very similar where it counts. I give it five full stars out of five; this one is a permanent addition to my DVD collection.

Rated R for incidental nudity (Zegers) and adult content. DVD has excellent extras including director commentary, interviews with Huffman and Zegers, video of the Dolly Parton's catchy Oscar-nominated song "Travelin Thru", and a blooper reel.

2005 had been a mixed year for movies for me. There were some good and some not so good films. "Transamerica" is one of the few films I felt was one of the best. It was both heartfelt and funny. Felicity Huffman should have won best actress for her role in this excellent film.

Felicity Huffman plays Bree, a woman who is on the verge of completing her transformation to be a woman completely. She finds out via a telephone call that she has a son from a college fling she had when she was still a man. Posing as a Christian missionary and a friend of the son's father when her therapist (Elizabeth Pena) insists that she goes see her son, Bree goes to bail out Toby (Kevin Zegers) in NYC. She reluctantly takes Toby on a criss country drive back to California. She has only a week to get back before her operation.

The week long journey in the car is momentous life changing experience for both Bree and Toby but especially for Bree. There was a good mix of comedy and drama through out the film. It wasn't unrealistically sweet or over the top dramatic. Felicity Huffman's portrayal was dead on and very realistic, as well as sympathetic. The way she was trained to speak in the film was especially realistic to me. The most heartbreaking momentfor me in the film was when Bree and Toby went to visit Bree's family. I can only imagine that this scenario would be very relatable to the members of transgendered communities across the country. The acting was superb in the film and writing was top notch. I loved every minute of the film and thought it was one of the few films that were truly flawless.

It's always refreshing around awards season to witness a performance by an actress that you know is going to make a big impression. In Transamerica, Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman just astounds, in a feat of acting that is nothing short of extraordinary. This is a poignant and often deliriously funny road-trip film and Huffman sinks her teeth into playing a sensitive, yet conflicted preoperative transsexual with such a refreshing candor that most viewers will be just blown away by the film.

The film marks an auspicious debut for writer-director Duncan Tucker, who spins a marvelous tale of a reluctant but curious dad who learns he has a son. The dad, however is soon to become a woman, and is now decked out in tasteful and chic pastels, but the film cleverly avoids the cliché's, thanks to Tucker's sensitive hand and the subtle work of Huffman and the rest of the pitch-perfect cast, especially Kevin Zegers as the lost-and-found offspring.

Huffman plays Bree/Stanley a self-contained preoperative transsexual who lives in her little Los Angeles bungalow, and works as a waitress in a local colourful Mexican restaurant. We first meet her a week before she is to have her gender reassignment surgery and her closest friend is her compassionate and kindly therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Pena).

But just before the ultimate surgical step is due to take place, she receives a phone call from a 17-year-old New York inmate, who claims to be Stanley's son. Of course, Bree has come too far to let anything derail her surgery - she is so single-minded that she dismisses the unwanted disruption. However, when Margaret learns of the phone call and her patient's offspring, she refuses to OK the medical procedure until Bree goes to New York to address the matter.

Bree flies East to help the boy, who has run away from home after his mother's suicide. Allowing him to think that she is a Christian missionary - her upright, churchly bearing makes it easy to believe - she decides to take him back to rural Kentucky, where his stepfather lives. She buys a chartreuse station wagon to drive Toby cross-country, but Toby, rather than returning to Kentucky, wants to go to Los Angles where he expects to find his father living large and hopes to break into movies -- of the San Fernando Valley sort.

The film is full of unexpected twists and turns, as Bree and Toby traverse the country eating in homey little roadside cafes, staying in comfy hotels, and even camping out. Soon they're developing an uncommon and strangely likable bond. This is the land where banjos and acoustic guitars compete with the crickets and loons, and along the way they meet a variety of characters from a free-spirited vegan hitcher (Grant Monohon) to a gentlemanly New Mexico rancher (Graham Greene) who gallantly comes to Bree's assistance, more than a bit smitten.

It is only after an incident on the road that the couple is forced to confront Bree's parents in their kitsch Phoenix mansion. Her father, Murray (Burt Young), is an easygoing fellow in loose-fitting linen, but it is her mother, Elizabeth (the astonishing Fionnula Flanagan), who commands our attention. With her peroxide curls, silk pantsuits and heavy makeup, she might be an aging movie diva, and she has the volatile temperament to prove it. She's absolutely repulsed by her son's new look, but underneath the cold exterior, she's desperately trying to understand him.

The performances are all astounding, but this is Huffman's movie, and she totally steals the show, brilliantly embodying the complex layers of self-awareness and denial. She's prim and proper, but also raw and gutsy, and although she may not yet have totally got womanhood right, she's a lovely, sensitive kind hearted person, who we all know will end up being an absolutely gorgeous woman. It is not just that the actress plays a man who plays a woman, but also that she must impersonate a performer in the midst of learning a complicated role. Her performance is a complex metamorphosis - it is thrilling to watch and was the real Best Actress performance of 2005.

As she each day she paints on a face and puts on a voice to become more truly herself, her uneasy self-consciousness is a constant, especially when a child's innocent but discerning question plunges Bree into despair. As a boy who is tempted by cheap drugs and uses the art of seduction to get his way, Zegers conveys Toby's essential sweetness and hunger for real affection, making him much more than just a vain or damaged kid.

But what makes Transamerica one of the year's best films is the sensitive and intuitive way that Tucker presents the world of transexualism. He never judges Bree, or preaches, and throughout the story there is much to be learned about the history and place transsexuals once had in society. The astute and intelligent script weaves laugh-out-loud humor into his characters' longing for acceptance, but most importantly, the director treats Bree as a fully rounded person, with all her quirks, insecurities and foibles, rather than some kind of objective, and scientific case study. Mike Leonard December 05.