Transamerica (***1/2)

-->Felicity Huffman is completely believable, as well as funny and moving, in the role of a pre-op transsexual, about to get the final cut, who finds out about a son she never knew.

 

In the same way that Brokeback Mountain is not really a movie about homosexuality, this seriocomic character study is not about transexuality. Except for about five minutes of the movie, there’s only one transgender person, and that’s the one brilliantly played by Felicity Huffman. She’s barely recognizable as the Desperate Housewives star. This is partly due to voice and makeup, but also the fact that Huffman makes her character seem like a real person and not a type. She’s the kind of woman who says she’s going to the “ladies room” when she has to piss in the woods, but also displays resources of toughness. The title equally refers to it being a road movie. Huffman’s traveling companion is the handsome but troubled son (Kevin Zegers) she never knew she had, and who she finds out about just before getting the procedure that will technically make her body conform to her self-image. Transamerica is the feature debut of writer-director Duncan Tucker. Funny, touching, and sometimes surprising, it’s a movie that suggests that self-image is about more than the body you’re in.

IMDb link

circulated via email 12/22/05 and posted 9/17/13