Movie Review: Transamerica

Transamerica

I hadn't heard much about this little film until there started to be Oscar® buzz over Felicity Huffman's performance. The plot sounded intriguing, and certainly I'm always game to see high caliber acting. Unfortunately, it wasn't until this weekend that a theatre within driving distance was showing the film. Better late than never, though, I always say, and so I headed out to see Transamerica at long last.

Transamerica tells the story of a man suffering from transgender disphoria, the unshakable perception that he was born with the wrong genitalia. Sabrina Claire Osborne (Felicity Huffman) was named Stanley at birth, but she says she's always felt female and has been living as a woman for some time. After years of relatively minor medical procedures, hormone treatment, and psychotherapy, she's ready for the final step: the surgery that will render her female by altering her genitalia to reflect her true gender. Bree is thrilled to finally have her surgery scheduled, and her therapist, Margaret (Elizabeth Peña) is thrilled for her.

Just days from her planned surgery, Bree gets a telephone call for Stanley. She tells the caller that Stanley doesn't live there any more, but she finds the conversation disturbing enough to mention it to Margaret in her next therapy session. Margaret, too, finds the call troubling. It seems that the New York City police are trying to reach Stanley to tell him that his son is in trouble. Bree, who never even knew she might have a son, is appalled. But Margaret insists that she can't sign off on Bree's surgery unless the highly volatile and emotional situation is breached.

Exasperated but desperate to have the surgery, Bree travels to New York City where she meets the troubled Toby (Kevin Zegers). Telling him she's a missionary with an obscure Christian denomination, she bails Toby out of jail and decides to take him back home to Kentucky whether he wants to go there or not. Toby, meanwhile, is determined to make it to Hollywood where he intends to break into acting by making porn films, and Bree represents a way for him to make it at least part of the way there.

On the road together, the two begin to learn more about each other. Bree is stunned to hear of Toby's mother's death and of the ways he's managed to survive in New York City; Toby impatiently puts up with Bree's attempts to civilize and educate him. Once in Kentucky, though, Bree learns more than she'd like about the boy who may be her own child. And Toby's curiosity and their close proximity on the trip represent a real threat to Bree's ability to keep her secret just a little while longer.

After a few crises along the way, the two meet Calvin (Grahame Greene), a kind Native American who offers to help them get a bit closer to California. Eventually, the pair land in Phoenix where Bree's ultimate nightmare is realized: She must face her parents (Fionnula Flanagan and Burt Young) and sister, Sidney (Carrie Preston) as Sabrina instead of Stanley. Even more difficult for her, she also has to weigh whether or not to let Toby in on the full measure of who — and what — she is.

Felicity Huffman is very good, but I frankly don't think she's as good as some of the critics are claiming. She talks in a deeper voice than normal, but it's clearly a strain for her and sounds like nothing so much as what it is: a woman trying to talk in a lower vocal range. In many scenes, I think it might have been better had a man played the lead role since it's that transformation the movie is really illuminating. That being said, her anguish is palpable and her hope that the surgery will once and for all enable her to be content in her own body is both overwhelming and exceedingly fragile. In some scenes, she's so good that you'll forget she's acting at all and just feel for her pain as she weeps or bravely lifts her chin up in the face of humiliation or worse.

Kevin Zegers is just terrific. Toby's not a particularly nice boy, but there's some likability to him that a lesser actor probably couldn't have managed when the character is at his worst. Meanwhile, Fionnula Flanagan and Burt Young offer dead-on portrayals of parents who simply cannot understand how it is that their firstborn son could actually be their daughter. Peña and Greene give added dimension to Bree's character with their own able contributions to the overall storyline.

Writer/director Duncan Tucker makes his debut with Transamerica and, while there are some mistakes, there's clearly a tremendous amount of promise for him in both arenas. The script is sometimes a little stilted, but on balance gives us a fascinating (and sometimes heartrending) glimpse into a world many of us know next to nothing about (Tucker first came up with the idea for Transamerica when he discovered his female roommate had actually been raised as a boy). And the cross country journey, most of which involves backroads travel, is a treat in and of itself.

The bottom line: Transamerica is far from unflawed, but its unique story and honest telling of it make it well worth the price of admission.

POLITICAL NOTES: There are those who worry that homosexuals or transgendered Americans are working to get "special rights" for themselves. Transamerica shows that "special rights" are the least of the problem for a transsexual. Simply living without fear of harm or humiliation would be a good start! If Transamerica can show just a few people that much, then it's surpassed itself as "just" a good movie. Simply being transgender (or gay, or anything else) shouldn't mean that the Bill of Rights and just plain human decency don't both apply!

FAMILY SUITABILTY: Transamerica is rated R for "sexual content, nudity, language, [and] drug use." The sexual content is fairly graphic, and so are a few of the scenes. Transamerica is in no way suitable for children. But teens of age 16 or so and up who are mature enough to avoid tittering merely at the sight of bare breasts or buttocks would likely benefit from learning about a largely hidden world, and frankly so would most adults (the initial scene between Bree and her mother brought gasps from the audience in attendance when I saw the film). That Transamerica will hold your attention and see you become emotionally vested in its characters as it moves through time while the characters drive across the country is a wonderful bonus.