Release Date: 2 March 2006

Synopsis :

A pre-operative male-to-female transsexual takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she fathered a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York. Nominated for Best Actress and Original Song for Golden Globes.

Movie Review:

There are plenty of things to do on a long road trip. Enjoying the vast scenery, meeting intriguing strangers and most important of all, it’s a great way to bond with your fellow companion. Transamerica is one such road trip movie and what makes this movie even more special is the two travelers on the road trip. One’s a transgender and the other is her son who has no idea of the family ties or her actual gender.

Meet Bree (Felicity Huffman), a conservative pre-ops transsexual who is holding two jobs so that she could afford the final sexual reassignment surgery that she had been waiting for almost a year now. Just a week before the scheduled surgery, she receives a phone call from Toby (Kevin Zegers), a jailed teenage runaway, who is the son she never knew she had during her life as a man.

Bree’s dilemma worsens when her therapist insists that she meet up with Toby before granting her the final approval needed for the surgery. Not wanting to screw up her chances at the surgery, Bree flies to New York to bail Toby out of jail.

After helping Toby get out of jail, Bree is horrified to learn that Toby has plans to travel to LA to look for his father (Bree’s past identity). In a state of panic and with the pressing date of her surgery looming in, she schemes a proposed road trip across the states with the intention of dropping Toby off at his step dad’s place, getting rid of the nagging responsibility she had spawned during the folly of her younger days.

Like every good road trip movie, things don’t often go as it well as it was planned!

Together, Bree and Toby, as different as night and day begins their long journey across America, encountering a variety of people and incidents that draws them closer, discovering their kindred spirit even when Bree is trying to hide her real identity from Toby during their journey. Along the journey, they grow to realize the similarities they both share, a loner in a world that shuns them. Gradually they begin to see beyond their differences and grow to realize what they share in common.

Well-known member of the ensemble cast of TV Series “Desperate Housewives” Felicity Huffman has probably nailed the breakthrough role of her career. Her portrayal of Bree was utterly unrecognizable to those who are used to watching her on “Desperate Housewives”. The entire make up, dressing, behavior changes and vocal training helped Felicity Huffman to bring on a convincing pre male to female transsexual operation personality on screen. If it was hard for a male to cross role as a female, it must have been twice the effort for a woman to learn how to be a man who is going to be a female.

And since Charlie Theron and Hilary Swank both won a Best Actress Oscar award for their radical makeover roles in “Monster” and “Boys Don’t Cry” respectively; Felicity Huffman getting recognition for her performance as a Transgender in Transamerica won’t come as a surprise. It’s simply amazing how much an actress can disappear under her make up and emerge as different personality and appearance.

Pairing up with Felicity Huffman is the child star from the “Air Bud” franchise, Kevin Zegers, leaving the family type of movies to take on more mature type roles. His portrayal as a wild and insecure runaway was the perfect balance of fine acting capabilities and raw energy.

Putting it all together, first time full-length feature film director and writer Duncan Tucker drew on the inspiration from his friendship with a pre-op transsexual, crafting together a touching and humane look into the difficulties that many transsexuals go through in their daily lives. After encountering a few first time directors’ works recently, Duncan Tucker’s work felt like a seasoned professional filmmaker’s work with very little mistakes to pick on. His touches were deft, sensibly opening a can of worms from the concept of a norm in our society, leaving us with a lot to ponder upon and yet leaving us entertained at the same time.

Transgender or not, we are all trying to fit in. Transamerica is all about acceptance: acceptance from family, from society and more important of all, acceptance of oneself. There is so much beauty in this world if one lives with their heart and mind open.

Movie Rating:

(“Felicity Huffman’s top notch performance as a Transgender is Oscar Worthy”)

Review by Richard Lim Jr