X
- 2005
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 43 m
- 2005
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 43 m
Summary Bree (Huffman) is a perfectly adjusted conservative transsexual woman. Born Stanley, a genetic male, she's about to tale the final step to becoming the woman Stanley always wanted to be - until she finds out that she is the parent of a long-lost 17 year-old son (Zegers). Afraid to tell the rebellious teenager the truth, Bree embarks on a...
Directed By: Duncan Tucker
Written By: Duncan Tucker
- 2005
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 43 m
- 2005
- R
- IFC Films
- 1 h 43 m
Transamerica
66
7.5
Where to Watch
Summary Bree (Huffman) is a perfectly adjusted conservative transsexual woman. Born Stanley, a genetic male, she's about to tale the final step to becoming the woman Stanley always wanted to be - until she finds out that she is the parent of a long-lost 17 year-old son (Zegers). Afraid to tell the rebellious teenager the truth, Bree embarks on a...
Directed By: Duncan Tucker
Written By: Duncan Tucker
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally favorable
Based on 37 Critic Reviews
66
73% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
27% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally favorable
Based on 37 Critic Reviews
66
73% Positive
27 Reviews
27 Reviews
27% Mixed
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Until it detours into dysfunctional-family comedy-drama, Transamerica rides cross-country without ever running low on bracing, cactus-spined surprises.
It's a farce with heart, a meditation on identity, family and gender politics that has real faith in its characters - even when the characters themselves lack it.
User Score
Generally favorable
Based on 32 User Ratings
7.5
81% Positive
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
19% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally favorable
Based on 32 User Ratings
7.5
81% Positive
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
19% Mixed
6 Ratings
6 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Transamerica is a tale of acceptance and bonding on an unlikely road trip. Felicity Huffman is convincing and extraordinary as a transgendered person--honestly, one of the best performances in years.
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Transamerica provides the frame and the occasion for one of the year's best performances, Felicity Huffman's as a woman trapped in a man's body who's passing for female while awaiting a sex-change operation.
The real success of Duncan Tucker, who wrote and directed this debut feature, is that, through credible dialogue and sensitive performances, the basic idea overcomes its cleverness and is affecting.
The unintended effect of all the melodramatic complications in Transamerica is, oddly, to distract attention from an understanding of exactly what that courage really costs.
Pleasant even without reaching much of a destination, Transamerica leaves the basic impression that it's not as self-satisfied as it could have been.
Like a preoperative transsexual, Transamerica is neither one thing nor the other. It yanks at the heartstrings too much to qualify as an edgy comedy-drama, but it's far too bawdy to make it to the Hallmark Channel.
For a start, this movie isn't as graphic as you might fear it to be, much in the same way as Brokeback Mountain isn't, yet it does provide some awkward scenes and generally it'll be awkward viewing for some, most even because its tackling a somewhat taboo subject.
Watching the behaviour between 'Bree' and Toby it is, of course, very tense - although Toby isn't fully aware of who 'Bree' is until quite late on in the story. This is of course where the whole denial aspect comes from, as its enough of a shock for Toby when he accidentally discovers that 'Bree' isn't entirely a 'she', put it that way, although there's more to the denial theme than that - especially when later on in the story, Toby is confronted with 'Bree's parents, not realising that their actually his grandparents. Watching how they react to their son, almost daughter, returning home (as the 'prodigal son', as his sister Sidney calls him), it is quite painful at times, they clearly don't understand things from 'Bree's point of view, although I also understand why their sad, especially given a couple of things that he says to his mother, so there's definitely a strong element of family turbulence there. Toby is an interesting character, he is very private and while he isn't quiet to point out Bree's 'shortcoming' once he realises he's been lied to, he also has his own secret he keeps which becomes apparent later on. While he may be angry, he also clearly has an element of blind faith in ultimately agreeing to accompany Bree and befriending those that they come across as they travel across the US. It was quite interesting to see how Toby reacted when he was presented with a room full of other transgender people, at that point not realising that 'Bree' was one of them. When 'Bree' dismisses these people, he defends them, which is nice in as much as I'd hope that the younger generations may be more tolerant of such people but then its sad as well as once the story unfolds, it turns out that ultimately he doesn't like 'Bree' because of the fact that s/he had lied about who s/he is, that hurt more than his true identity. Whether he walks away from 'Bree' or not I won't say, I wouldn't like to give away the full story, it is quite complicated but I thought that it was interesting to see how it unfolded and the messages that the movie brought across through the story. I think most people would probably agree that we have our secrets that we keep from members of our family for fear that it would perhaps offend, hurt or digust them, when it needn't be that way. I also found it quite interesting how Bree interacted with some of the other characters, there are some interesting people that they come across, now whether they guess about Brees transgender status or not im not sure but it is interesting, I wonder if there's an element of highlighting that certain states, places or people are perhaps less bothered about such things, im not sure.
I think its perhaps one of those movies you watch and then afterwards you may find yourself reassessing any family feuds you may have had and suchlike, well in as much as I found it to be a thought provoking movie. Felicity Huffman and Kevin Zegers definitely do give good performances as their characters, both hiding their own secrets and having awkward body language but clearly secretly depending on each other for their own reasons. I wouldn't say, however, that this movie is without its flaws as far as the story is concerned, as I did find myself questioning it at times, mainly because I thought it was a bit convenient that Toby seemingly didn't realise 'Bree's status or that s/he was related to him, yet he agreed to trust 'her' and trusted in some of the people that they meet on the way with seemingly blind faith. I did feel that something was off with that, if it had been me I would have asked her alot more questions - especially after the first time that they veered off the designated route to LA and he was confronted with his step father, which was a tense situation to say the least, so there was a believability issue I felt which let the movie down a bit, at least thats what came to my mind as I was watching it.
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Felicity Huffman gives a very powerful performance in this movie, although I have to admit that I couldn't help but wonder why they didn't get a real Transgender actress to play the same role. I know that a lot has changed over the past few years and now a day’s Trans people have become big stars and I suppose that many of them could have played this role, not that Huffman isn't convincing.
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I suppose this film was created to draw attention to what a transgender person goes through in order to be a complete male to female transexual. I think the film fails on more levels than it succeeds on. Firstly they didm't use an actual transgender person to play the part of the one in the film which is a joke in this day and age and secondly the film soft pedals the American Psychiatric Association definition of a transexual- a definition that was actually created by a tuberculosis specialist in America-not a psychologist or a psychiatrist-in 1960-completely disregarding earlier psychology/psychiatry work with the subject of transsexualism in Europe-not that it would matter now because times have changed so much since then. Worth mentioning and not addressed by the film the APA definition of transexual also treats the subject of sex change as an issue that applies to men who have done tough guy jobs but who now want to be the other sex and as such it is a complete joke. Also not dealt with by the film is that the US definition of transexual also fails to take into account that we no longer live in gender polarized times and that many males grow up any way they want to because that is the age we live in. WW2 didm't just end a few years ago. The filmmakers might think they are standing up for transgender but showing a 'transwoman' who looks like she just did her shift at the bomb factor in WW2 is nothing but scheisse of a different colour-as is the rest of this film. Does that 'draw attention to a problem ?' I'm not sure of it does-it sort of reinforces the problem aspect of things-in this viewers opinion. I guess you cannot be smart if you are not smart.
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Production Company
Belladonna Productions
Release Date Dec 2, 2005
Duration 1 h 43 m
Rating R
Tagline Life is more than the sum of its parts.
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 2 Nominations
Gold Derby Awards
• 2 Wins & 4 Nominations
