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Transamerica
Directed by Duncan Tucker
:. Starring: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan
:. Script: Duncan Tucker
:. Running Time: 1:43
:. Country: USA
:. Year: 2005
:. Official Site: Transamerica
Usually, a road movie means a road really well-travelled, along with all the requisite "surprises" and detours that somehow make the two hours in the theatre seem much longer than a drive from L.A. to the Grand Canyon. With Transamerica, director Duncan Tucker has mined the territory in between our pre-conceived notions of failure and success and fashioned a gem of self-realization on the back roads that the marginalized know better than anyone.
Felicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives fame gives a stunning performance as a man about to undergo a transgender operation, the final surgery needed to fully become a woman. Bree gets a call that she fathered a son some years back, and he is now a gay male prostitute in jail in New York. She goes to get him, making him think that she is a Christian missionary who has come to save him. From there she heads to the south, hoping to pawn him off to his step-father. In one brief, violent scene, Toby's decision to become a hustler in New York becomes perfectly clear. From there they head to Arizona, where Bree's visit with her family proves traumatic as well, and the web of lies they've both woven begins to unravel.
In all of the lies that they tell each other, the beauty of truth also surfaces. Bree has suffered by being ostracized by her family, while Toby hasn't had any sort of stable life. They've both had to learn the hard way, and their mutual respect for each other is palbable. We know that eventually both will find out the truth, but as in real life, sometimes more time is needed. The strength of this film is that humor is used in a way to make it all more palatable, instead of a dark and dreary production.
Transamerica is like Me, You and Everyone We Know mixed with a few shockers from Happiness. Witty and beautiful dialogue is coupled with performances that are so natural and human but edgy enough to keep the film's tender conclusion gratifying. Huffman's husband produced the film; he happens to be William H. Macy, so you already have an idea of the inherent goofiness and heart the film possesses.
Felicity Huffman excels in her role and by the end of the film it's difficult to have anything but respect for this strong mother-bear of a woman who still needs to grow up and take charge. Kevin Zegers has the same scrappiness that Edward Furlong shows off in so many movies, except that Zegers' tender moments keep him from being an unbearable teenager. The scene-stealer though, is Fionnula Flanagan. As Bree's long-suffering mother, she embodies the same unjustified and supersized fears that thousands of parents across America have, displaying them in much the same annoying way that they usually do.
The topics of transgender, homosexuality and prostitution usually end up on Law & Order, with a Special Victims Unit. Transamerica makes them part of our concepts of family without being preachy. And part of this country, not just hidden away in some back alley in New York.
Anji Milanovic
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Transamerica review
