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Though road movies are as integral to the history of Hollywood as
Huckleberry Finn is to American literature, it’s probably a safe bet
that Transamerica is the first road movie about a pre-op transsexual
who learns she fathered a son who’s now a street hustler in New
York. Mother/father and son’s resultant cross-country journey
includes as many picaresque adventures as does Huck and Jim’s
journey along the Mississippi, though this time the subtext (“Come
back to the raft, Huck honey”) is shouted loud and proud. This is no
Bing and Bob on the road; this is Bree and Toby, with drugs and
dicks and tricks and johns. Notwithstanding the superlative
supporting cast (Burt Young and Fionnula Flanagan as Bree’s
hyper-manic parents, Elizabeth Pena as her therapist, and
particularly Kevin Zegers as a very sexy Toby), the movie is all
about Felicity Huffman. If you don’t know Huffman from Desperate
Housewives, if you haven’t seen her in other films, then you’re
probably always going to remember her best as Bree. This is the kind
of performance which has you leaning forward in your seat, the way
you might while sharing dinner with someone so fascinating that you
can’t entirely relax. Huffman imbues Bree with an almost oxymoronic
fragile strength, her nervousness camouflaging a resolute
resilience. This soon-to-be-complete woman is a survivor, whether
she’s traipsing along a back road in espadrille wedgies or enduring
her mother’s tirades, and Huffman’s performance makes sure you see
the dignity in living proud for whom you know yourself to be. |
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