For one imaginative transvestite, a 'breakfast on Pluto' sounds like a fabulous idea.
The independent film "Breakfast on Pluto" is based on a book of the same name by Patrick McCabe. It tells a colorful and whimsical tale of the misadventures of a young transvestite during the 1970s.
Neil Jordan directs this touching tragicomedy that stresses the importance of being yourself and maintaining an optimistic attitude, especially in the face of opposition.
"Breakfast on Pluto" stars Cillian Murphy ("Red Eye," "Batman Begins") who was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as Patrick "Kitten" Braden.
Braden is a bold and bemused Irish orphan who encounters even the most intense situations with confidence and a sense of humor. Although Braden is lost and lonely, he uses this humor to mask his inner torments.
The story opens as a woman abandons her baby on a parish doorstep. The only witnesses to the event are a pair of nosy robins conversing through subtitles.
The baby is found by a less-than-pious Father Bernard (Liam Neeson, "Batman Begins," "Love Actually"), and dumped off on new foster mother, Ma Braden (Ruth McCabe).
While Braden is still very young, Ma Braden returns home to find him donning a dress and lipstick. She curses the day she ever took him in, and gives him a sports magazine to remedy the situation. This sparks his obsessive search for his birth mother, who, as a neighbor describes, is a "dead ringer for Mitzi Gaynor." The neighbor informs young Braden that he last saw his mother in London.
Years later, Braden decides to leave the tiny Irish hamlet and travel to London in search of his mother, whom he begins to call the "phantom lady." He is not able to find her, but succeeds in seducing a slew of unlikely companions and obtaining some odd jobs, such as masquerading as a costumed furry forest animal and a magician's assistant. He is later accused of being the cross-dressing killer who bombs a night club, and after being found innocent he falls into prostitution.
The story comes full circle when Braden returns to Ireland after finding the loving parent he always desired when his birth father reveals himself.
At times, subtitles would be more useful for sorting through the Irish accents and mumbling of the characters than for the musings of the robins who appear occasionally.
The film is also broken up by chapters, which doesn't allow the story to flow as well as it could and makes it seem to drag on.
"Breakfast on Pluto" is a fanciful and clever film with colorful characters and a catchy '70s pop soundtrack.
Movie-goers can catch the film in its last screenings tonight at the State Theater in Ann Arbor, or at the Landmark Main Art Theatre in Royal Oak.
Its estimated video release is April 2006, according to www.videoeta.com.
