As "Breakfast on Pluto" opens with a sun-shiny '60s pop song and gossiping robins flitting about in a fairy tale setting of a small Irish town, you really start to wonder just how director Neil Jordan is going to proceed with the journey of a young transvestite on the search for his missing mother.
But then again, not every story of homosexuality has to focus on sex, does it?
We meet Patrick "Kitten" Braden (Cillian Murphy) at a young age, when he is either being punished by his foster mother for wearing a dress and makeup or getting reprimanded by his teachers for handing in explicitly perverse writing. His life appears harsh, yet there is hardly a moment -- not even as his foster mother (Ruth McCabe) viciously scrubs him in the tub, forcing him to proclaim, "I am a boy, not a girl," -- that he loses his dazzling smile or the twinkle in his ocean blue eyes.
Though his cheery disposition and incredible optimism in the face of extreme disapproval and even violence create the perfect giddy-on-the-outside, yet slightly tougher-on-the-inside protagonist Jordan needed for his adaptation for Patrick McCabe's novel, it certainly does a fine job of making it difficult to distinguish whether we are dealing with Patrick's naiveté, or simply succumbing to his plan of attack on the world -- sort of a kill them with kindness and kisses tactic.
After all, he's been abandoned by his mother, he lives an androgynous existence in a provincial Catholic town, yet he grows up seemingly unaffected, successfully transforming himself into the beautiful and confident "Kitten." He effortlessly, if not accidentally, bounces from adventure to adventure in a sort of Forrest Gump fashion, but with slightly more sensual prowess.
Kitten, perhaps fed up with the unfabulousness of the Irish countryside, has set out for London in search of his mother, whom he has dubbed "the phantom lady" in light of her mysterious disappearance from Ireland. He's a writer and thus, Jordan's film is narrated and carried by Kitten's journal entries, or rather, the vignettes of his wildly entertaining life. And for the most part, our sympathies stay with Kitten, easily falling under the spell of his love-me charm and starry-eyed fantasies of finding love -- whether it be from a partner or a parent.
Though long, the film progresses at a comfortable pace that is directed solely by Kitten's quest, and, to its disadvantage, little else. For instance, Northern Ireland is in the midst of upheaval and revolt, but since Kitten has a difficult time accepting anything as "serious," the inclusion of this sub-plot seems to clash violently and awkwardly with the otherwise fantasy bubble in which he's created.
But luckily for him (and us), his fantasy bubble world is interesting and engaging enough to keep our attention without reality needing to poke a needle into it.
Carried by bouncy pop anthems of the '60s and '70s, eccentric humor and, most importantly, by Murphy's brilliant performance of the fey-as-they-come protagonist, "Breakfast on Pluto" charms like a fairy tale with a bit of faith in the human condition and slight suspension of disbelief.
"Breakfast on Pluto" opens on Friday, Jan. 6 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
