Monday, January 23, 2006
THIS CHARMING MAN
Saw Breakfast on Pluto at the Landmark Century Centre a few weeks ago.
Ever like a film and not like it at the same time? That was my reaction to Breakfast on Pluto.
Plot: The ubiquitous Cillian Murphy play Patrick/Patricia “Kitten” Braden, found on the doorstep of the local church in a small, Irish town in the early 60s (?). Patrick grows up to be a young man with no doubt of his femininity and its power over men. After a particularly nasty quarrel with his foster mother, he decides to strike out on his own, and is immediately picked up by a glam rock band. Patrick becomes the lover of the lead singer of the band and even insinuates himself into the act, until the other band members rebel and kick him out. The lead singer of the band installs him in a remote hideaway, which we soon learn is an IRA weapons stash. Patrick is nearly murdered by some thugs after he throws the weapons into a lake, but is spared because he happened to go to high school with ones of their colleagues.
Patrick then moves on to London, in hope of finding his long lost mother. There he has a series of comic misadventures: He has brief stints as a children’s theater puppeteer, a magician’s assistant, a street hustler, and is even accused of being an IRA terrorist after he happens to be in a nightclub that is blown up by a bomb.
The latter incident underlines the recurrent theme of Breakfast on Pluto: the world of politics and violence intruding on happiness. Patrick just wants to be himself and live his life, but the rest of the world with its nasty seriousness keeps threatening to destroy him. However, Patrick will just not let that happen. This is a powerful idea, but I’m not sure I liked how it was handled by Neil Jordan. Patrick conducts himself with admirable dignity, even when he seems to know that he’s being slightly ridiculous. But we never get a sense that anything is a stake for his character. Even though the film has some very serious moments, it’s mostly played for laughs. I understand that it’s the point of the material to show us that Patrick will never give in to the seriousness of the world around him, that he will always hold his head high. The problem is that Patrick holds the rest of the world at such a distance that he seems almost inhuman by the end of the film. He remains untouched by life. If only one of those violent incidents had shaken or touched him in some way, instead of leaving his confidence untouched.
But still there is much to admire in Breakfast on Pluto, particularly, the performance of Cillian Murphy. All I can say is that he looked so much like a woman that it made me uncomfortable at times. Now, even though he looked like a woman, that doesn’t mean he acted like one. He acted like all drag queens do, like a man thinks a woman would act or perhaps, more accurately, what a man thinks a woman should act like. All I can say is that his Patrick/Patricia was a hoot from beginning to end. And hey, any movie that has the line, “Officer, would you marry me if I weren’t a transvestite, Irish terrorist?”, can’t be all bad. ¶ 7:02 PM
Ever like a film and not like it at the same time? That was my reaction to Breakfast on Pluto.
Plot: The ubiquitous Cillian Murphy play Patrick/Patricia “Kitten” Braden, found on the doorstep of the local church in a small, Irish town in the early 60s (?). Patrick grows up to be a young man with no doubt of his femininity and its power over men. After a particularly nasty quarrel with his foster mother, he decides to strike out on his own, and is immediately picked up by a glam rock band. Patrick becomes the lover of the lead singer of the band and even insinuates himself into the act, until the other band members rebel and kick him out. The lead singer of the band installs him in a remote hideaway, which we soon learn is an IRA weapons stash. Patrick is nearly murdered by some thugs after he throws the weapons into a lake, but is spared because he happened to go to high school with ones of their colleagues.
Patrick then moves on to London, in hope of finding his long lost mother. There he has a series of comic misadventures: He has brief stints as a children’s theater puppeteer, a magician’s assistant, a street hustler, and is even accused of being an IRA terrorist after he happens to be in a nightclub that is blown up by a bomb.
The latter incident underlines the recurrent theme of Breakfast on Pluto: the world of politics and violence intruding on happiness. Patrick just wants to be himself and live his life, but the rest of the world with its nasty seriousness keeps threatening to destroy him. However, Patrick will just not let that happen. This is a powerful idea, but I’m not sure I liked how it was handled by Neil Jordan. Patrick conducts himself with admirable dignity, even when he seems to know that he’s being slightly ridiculous. But we never get a sense that anything is a stake for his character. Even though the film has some very serious moments, it’s mostly played for laughs. I understand that it’s the point of the material to show us that Patrick will never give in to the seriousness of the world around him, that he will always hold his head high. The problem is that Patrick holds the rest of the world at such a distance that he seems almost inhuman by the end of the film. He remains untouched by life. If only one of those violent incidents had shaken or touched him in some way, instead of leaving his confidence untouched.
But still there is much to admire in Breakfast on Pluto, particularly, the performance of Cillian Murphy. All I can say is that he looked so much like a woman that it made me uncomfortable at times. Now, even though he looked like a woman, that doesn’t mean he acted like one. He acted like all drag queens do, like a man thinks a woman would act or perhaps, more accurately, what a man thinks a woman should act like. All I can say is that his Patrick/Patricia was a hoot from beginning to end. And hey, any movie that has the line, “Officer, would you marry me if I weren’t a transvestite, Irish terrorist?”, can’t be all bad. ¶ 7:02 PM
