Transamerica

Felicity Huffman's Emmy should have gotten some company from Oscar for her technically impeccable, emotionally resonant performance in Duncan Tucker's sharp, surprisingly moving little road-trip movie about a parent and child who connect during an unlikely journey. Huffman plays a male transsexual in L.A.—in the last stages of preparing for a sex-change operation—who learns that she may have sired a son (Kevin Zegers) during her life as a man, a teenager now jailed for hustling in New York. Bailing him out, she offers to drive him to California, but really hopes to drop him off with his stepfather along the way. Of course, things don't turn out as she'd planned: the two continue westward together, meeting an assortment of colorful characters and bonding in the process. It would be easy—and unfair—to pigeonhole Transamerica as an issue movie: although its tone is very different—a mixture of the humorous and the touching rather than somber tragedy—the film is like Brokeback Mountain in that it's distinguished not by a potentially provocative theme but by an essential sense of humanity. The picture benefits from Tucker's generally deft writing and affectionate direction, and by the sensitive, witty acting—not only by Huffman, but also by Zegers as her boyishly naïve son. Transamerica is much more than a stunt film: despite occasional missteps, this is a sweet, penetrating, funny, and very human story. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Duncan Tucker, an interview with Tucker and star Felicity Huffman (19 min.), another segment featuring Tucker and costar Kevin Zegers (10 min.), the Dolly Parton music video “Travelin' Through” and a four minute “making-of” the video, a blooper reel (4 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for one of 2005's more highly regarded films.] (F. Swietek)