Transamerica Reviews

I was reading the Williamette Weekly last week (which is a local progressive rag) and ran into the following review of Transamerica. Here is the review and my response. Oh and there will be no show this week, I am taking a break as the last two shows were ALOT of work. In my next show I will examine reviews of this movie throughout the country to see how many of them are as bad as this one...

Monday, January 30
home | culture | Issue #32.11 | PREVIEW | 1/18/2006

Lost In Transition

Felicity Huffman's life-changing journey in Transamerica.

BY BYRON BECK & DAVID WALKER | bbeck at wweek.com

Transamerica
Felicity Huffman is not a man. It's important to keep that in mind while watching her in Transamerica, where she plays a pre-op transsexual man awaiting final gender reassignment so convincingly that you'll start to wonder what's under her skirt. But she is not a man. Felicity Huffman is just a damn good actress.

"There was a really short list of actresses I thought could play this," said Transamerica writer-director Duncan Tucker during a recent trip to Portland. "It was always going to be an actress, not a guy in a dress. I wanted to honor where the character was going and not mire her in what she left behind."

Huffman, in a performance that nabbed a Golden Globe Monday and will probably garner an Oscar nomination, stars in Tucker's wonderfully bittersweet film as Bree Osbourne, a person caught in a sexual limbo—not quite a complete woman, still partially a man—as he/she awaits the final surgical procedure needed to make the transformation complete. Just as Bree is about to undergo the final operation, he/she gets a call from Toby (Kevin Zegers), a teen boy looking for Stanley Osbourne. It turns out that before the hormone treatments started, Bree was Stanley. And during a "failed lesbian experiment" in college, Stanley fathered a child—the nearly 18-year-old Toby, now leading a troubled life as a hustler. Bree is reluctantly forced to deal with this unexpected surprise from her/his past, while keeping the truth from Toby.
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"I joke that Transamerica is the Lord of the Rings of transsexual movies," says Tucker with a laugh. "Bree has to go on a journey to get rid of something she doesn't want, just as Frodo did. They are both in a way coming-of-age stories."

Bree's journey comes in the form of a cross-country road trip, where she/he and Toby gradually form a bond, and she/he wrestles with parental concerns and responsibility. Even relying on an age-old cinematic convention to convey personal growth and enlightenment, Tucker manages to keep Transamerica from degenerating into a jumbled mess of road-trip trappings. Instead, he infuses the film and his characters with quirky humanity that keeps them from becoming clichés and stereotypes—especially Bree, who is painted with finely detailed brushstrokes. In fact, it is the depth and complexity that Tucker and Huffman bring to Bree that give the film its heart and soul. Seldom are transgender characters treated with such cinematic respect that they're allowed to be more than comedic relief or a tragic subplot.

"I think the main thing that is subversive about this movie, if it is subversive at all, is the fact that the main character is a transsexual woman—but it's not a movie about transsexuality. It's like a sheep in wolf's clothing," explains Tucker. "It's a very sweet celebration of life."


Comments on "Lost In Transition"
| 1 comment(s)
Posted by "Rebecca Nay" | Thu, January 26
Lost In Transition

I am writing in response to Willamette Weekly's review of Transamerica. This review included a very important quote from director Duncan Tucker about casting lead character Bree Osbourne. "It was always going to be an actress, not a guy in a dress. I wanted to honor where the character was going and not mire her in what she left behind."

I find it REALLY ironic that Byron Beck and David Walker included this quote in their review because unlike Tucker, they refer to Bree as a "pre-op transsexual man" and use the term "he/she" through the entire article. While they praise the director for treating Bree with "cinematic respect", they fail to do that themselves. In a culture that turns a blind eye to the beating and murder of transgender people, I would expect a progressive publication like Willamette Weekly to treat this subject with more sensitivity. Being a transsexual WOMAN myself, I get sick and tired of the media blatantly disrespecting us. If gender has to be defined (which it shouldn't), then it should be determined by what's in between our ears, NOT our legs.

Rebecca Nay
Podcasting from Portland, Oregon
http://www.trannywreck.com

Larry Miller can kiss my ASS!!

I am sitting here at Costellos coffee house on 22nd and NE Broadway here in Portland. I just ate a delicous dish of vegetarian lasagna. I might have to give up meat :) I am going to the Portland Podcasting Meetup in about an hour.

As I write this blog, I am listening to the 4th quarter of the Utah Jazz vs. Philadelphia 76rs game. Utah is in the lead but it's close. I have been a Jazz fan my entire life so it was really disheartening to learn of Larry H. Miller's (owner of the Jazz) bigotry. Apparently he had Brokeback Mountain scheduled to show at one of his theatres in SLC and then withdrew it once he heard it was about two gay cowboys.

We briefly mentioned this in TW12 but I was too tired to rant about it, so I'll do it here. What the fuck Larry? You bigoted piece of shit. You have not even seen the movie and your already judging it because it has gay characters. Maybe you need a cock up your ass, so you will loosen up. I know you think you are sticking to your Mormon "morals" by not playing this movie. Maybe you think your promoting a "homosexual agenda" by playing it? Let me tell you what.. There is no such thing as a homosexual agenda, there is just people who want to live their lives and assholes like you make that more difficult. I don't know what kind of message your trying to send, but it's not one that is consistent with your religion.

As a life long Jazz fan, I can't just stop rooting for the team. But I can tell you this Larry, you won't see me in the Delta Center as long as you are the owner. I am glad I live in Portland so I can see the Jazz whip on the Blazers at the Rose Garden. Hopefully you will have a stroke or something in the next 10 years so I can purchase Jazz merchandise again and attend a game in the Delta Center.

LARRY MILLER, GO FUCK YOURSELF!

Just created a profile on My Space

Check my profile out. I uploaded a bunch of pictures on there and filled out a bunch of bio info. I will eventually put alot of this on my homepage as well. My space is an excellent way to network the show.. My biggest motivation was that my sister is on there alot.

I recorded TW#12 with my new equipment. The audio quality is not as good as I would like it to be, but I think I can fix that for my next show. I plan on doing some more networking by leaving audio comments on a few podcasts that I listen to over the next couple of days.

Why can't I get what I pay for?

It seems that there is a problem with the Podcast Factory mentioned in my last post. As of right now, my voice only records in mono, which I don't think is right but I am not sure.

Created a skit for TW12 that I think you will enjoy. For those who are easily offended, you probably should not listen to this show. I am working out all the bugs right now but I plan on recording the show tommorrow night and will have Alex as my co-host.

Just got New Equipment...

For my podcast you sicko! What kind of equipment did you think I was talking about? :) But since we're on that subject, I might as well announce that I am very close to getting my SRS with Dr. Sanguan Kunaporn scheduled. Yes this is BIG. I have been approved for a home equity line which will allow me to consolidate my bills and get myself on his waiting list. It is not finalized yet, but most road blocks seem to be out of the way.

Now getting back to podcast equipment. I just purchased the M-Audio Podcast Factory. Which is a significant upgrade in hardware and software from what I am using now. I am very confident that my first show of the year will be my best yet. I have a skit in the works for my first show and hope to learn in the next week how to create some professional loops using Ableton Live Lite 4 software. My goal is to put out TW#12 this weekend.

I'll keep you posted on this and my SRS situation.