A Sunday drive with Dad

‘Transamerica’ is a different type of road movie

by Kaizaad Kotwal

Transamerica comes to Ohio already carrying a lot of critical acclaim and a bevy of awards to boot. Most recently Felicity Huffman won the Best Actress (Drama) Golden Globe for her role as Bree. So what more can a critic have to say?

Don’t miss it for anything.

The film is more revolutionary than it is being given credit for. At the same time, it is as traditional as apple pie and cowboys. In fact, it is impossible to gauge the relevance of Transamerica without its relation to a host of other GLBT-related films that have also garnered critical and audience acclaim from Capote and Breakfast on Pluto to Brokeback Mountain.

It will only be a few years from now that one will be able to truly estimate the significance of this film season right now, where so much queer-related cinema came out of Hollywood’s closet and staked its claim, not only at the political table but also at the aesthetic buffet of only the highest standards of performance and production.

Of course, the true glory of this season will only stand the test of time if Hollywood isn’t pushed back into the closet by certain right-wing fascists and fundamentalist fanatics who are accusing Hollywood of the “homosexualization of America.”

That phrase, even though it stupidly implies that movies as an industry can make people homosexual, is inane at more levels than can be parsed here. After all, when Silence of the Lambs emerged with five Oscars and an inordinate amount of critical and box-office acclaim, where were all the so-called “good Christians” and “patriotic Americans” accusing Hollywood of the “cannibalization of America?”

Indirectly perhaps, we are to assume that to those who are so upset about the recent acclaim given to GLBT-related films, that cannibalism is more desirous than homosexuality in the American culture.

But, if you thought that gay cowboys had gotten the religious right’s starched shorts in a wad, then can you just imagine the pain from the self-imposed wedgies that a film like Transamerica might cause them?

Transamerica tells the tale of a preoperative transsexual. Bree is days away from a dream she has obsessed on for years‚ the completion of her gender reassignment. But her transformation comes to an abrupt halt when she receives a call from New York and discovers she has a son, fathered years earlier, and that he has been picked up by the police. Bree’s closest friend and therapist Margaret (Elizabeth Pena) tells Bree she has to deal with her past before she can move into her future. Margaret refuses to sign the final papers before she resolves the issues with her son.

Bree springs Toby (Kevin Zegers) from jail under the pretense that she’s a missionary worker with a goofy yet brilliant line that she is from “the church of the Potential Father.” Toby, a street hustler, begs Bree to take him with her to Los Angeles. So they set out on a road trip, each hiding their true motives and identities.

At its heart, Transamerica is a road film, a buddy flick and a family drama. It doesn’t get any more traditional than that in cinematic terms.

Yet, the performances and the understanding given to a group of people so ostracized (often even within the gay and lesbian community) are remarkable. Writer and director Duncan Tucker is not making a propaganda film about transgenderism. Rather, he seems simply interested in telling the story of one part of the human spectrum. And in telling it honestly, subtly, with pathos and humor, with intelligence and insight Transamerica is an original film in one of the hottest cinematic seasons in years.

The film shows how we all want the same things‚ family, love, home. And yet what’s normal remains undefinable, stays out of reach.

Tucker also tackles the human spectrum of damaged kids through the character of Toby, a guarded, hidden tough guy who more than anything needs love and understanding.

It is this pairing that is so effective, and for all its quirks and oddities, they are a truer reflection of all of us than we would like to admit. Toby is a wild child, secure in the beauty and sexuality of his body and insecure about his human worth. He and Bree are both lonely, living in a world that has abused and stigmatized them for no fault of their own. Both have closed themselves off from that world so as not to get hurt again. And yet, they must confront their inner demons before they can become who they are destined to be.

In the press notes to the film Tucker says that, “The film draws its life and soul from the people whose story it tells. I chose to make it a road movie because I wanted to show these two extraordinary characters against a backdrop of ordinary America and Americans. Bree and Toby unwittingly pioneer new territory in their own lives as they travel from the Northeast to the Southwest, and the sweep and scope of the landscape they pass through mirror their interior journeys.”

The film has gotten some flak from some who wanted the central part to be played by a real life transsexual. That would have been nice, but we would have missed one of the most intelligent and human acting jobs by an actress in a long, long time.

Besides, if we want to reach that place where openly gay actors are cast in straight parts, then we have to be willing for a genetic woman to play a trans person.

Tucker explains, “I wanted to cast a woman because I wanted to honor where the character was going and not mire her in what she left behind. I was looking for a transformative actress who could disappear into the role. I had admired Felicity’s work for some time and knew she had great range. I was convinced she had the chops, heart and humor to play the role.”

He couldn’t have been more correct. Her work is even more transformative, as if that is possible, than Hilary Swank’s turn in Boys Don’t Cry and Charlize Theron’s stunning work in Monster--both Oscar winning performances.

Huffman says that she “had to figure out the physicality of the role.”

“I met with two wonderful women, Andrea James and Calpernia Addams [on whose life the award-winning Showtime movie A Soldier’s Girl was based]. They not only talked to me about the inner life of gender dysphoria but about the physical challenges. They were my guardian angels throughout the shooting,” she said.

Her performance is pure gold. Even though Reese Witherspoon’s portrayal of June Carter Cash in Walk the Line was unbelievable--and Huffman’s only real competition this year--Huffman’s work here is so astounding that it is leaps and bounds above anything else this year.

From her perfect-pitch modulations to her body language this is as fearless as acting gets. Even though Huffman has garnered a lot of critical acclaim for the glamorous Desperate Housewives, she has finally arrived as an actor of relevance, or immeasurable talent and humanity.

Zegers shines as well in a tough role that must balance the hard edges of hurt and pain with the softer undulations of neediness and loneliness. He manages like a pro and the chemistry between the two is funny and poignant all at once.

Tucker ends his film with some openendedness. There is hope but not all is resolved proving that Bree and Toby (and by reflection all of us) are works in progress. If only the detractors of this film (and other GLBT-related works this season) would have the humility to understand that about themselves--that they too are works in progress--the world would be infinitely better. After all, for all its accomplishments and outward bravado, America too is a work in progress. She is the ultimate TransAmerica.