Film Reviews

Transamerica

• Rating:
• Director: Duncan Tucker
• Starring: Felicity Huffman
• Details: US, 103mins, 15s.

Bree (Huffman) is a pre-operative, male-to-female transsexual, with just one operation away from being a full-blown woman. When she receives a strange phone call telling her that she has a son - a result of a forgotten sexual encounter when she was a still a man - that is currently incarcerated in New York, she hops on a plane and files from LA to get the boy (Zegers) out of jail. On arrival in New York the boy Toby, who thinks that Bree is a Christian missionary, is handed over into her care. She persuades Toby to travel back to LA with her, secretly hoping to dump him on his stepfather's doorstep along the way.
Shot before Huffman was a household name with Desperate Housewives, Transamerica proves - just in case there was any doubt - that Huffman is the most talented actress on Wisteria Lane. Although written and directed by Duncan Tucker, this is Huffman's movie as she beautifully and subtly underplays a character that could have been so easily OTT melodramatic or, worse still, lean over to caricature. Road trip movies are now a Hollywood staple but have always thrown up new and interesting takes on the genre and Transamerica again offers something new while never once looking mechanical. Like HBO's Normal, Transamerica never pokes fun at transexuality, giving it the gravitas it deserves while still being able to have a laugh. Transamerica proves that indie films can still stand up against the might of tinseltown. A welcome addition to an old genus.

Review by Gavin Burke