Search - Breakfast on Pluto on DVD

Murphy purrs like a kitten

Jonathan Appleseed | 06/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Cillian Murphy's performance in Breakfast on Pluto is nothing short of astonishing. Although I'd never thought of him playing a transvestite, upon seeing him it was readily apparent that he was born to play one. It didn't take much makeup for him to appear "womanly", but far beyond that were his remarkably spot-on affectations. Every single movement he made, be it dancing, pointing, walking, trying to hop, smiling, making moon eyes at almost any male that would give him attention - whatever - he *was* "Kitten." Of all the performances by men playing transvestites or transsexuals, his by far outshines all others. I'm going to refer to Murphy's character as "she", because that's what Kitten would have liked.



As a baby, Kitten was placed on the doorstep of a church, thereby orphaned. (Have you ever wondered what has happened to children left on church doorsteps when nobody's home? Say the Father [or Sister] is on vacation, or they're sleeping and it rains at night...) The Father arranged for him to be raised by another woman. While in Catholic school, he drove the Father's mad. 1) He wrote a fanciful story describing his conception which, in a Catholic school, was particularly lewd; 2) When a Father acknowledged that at their age they would have "questions" (i.e., sexual questions), Kitten dropped a note in the question box about how to go about getting a sex change. There were others...all fairly hysterical, and although she didn't put the face to it, they were pleas for affection/attention.



Kitten had an indomitable spirit. No matter what hell she was placed in, somehow she rose above it, even in her own innocent naïveté. One of the most insightful scenes in the movie involved the club bombing. A handsome young man spotted her "across the bar", and bought her a drink. They then danced, ironically to a song that her first love, a musician she traveled with when she first home, sang. She asked this young man to pretend his name was that of her first love, and he agrees. That was touching and sentimental, and showed a very important side of Kitten, one that holds on to things regardless of circumstance. Then a bomb goes off, wounding many, and probably killing some. Kitten herself is terribly wounded, and is taken away in an ambulance. We then see Kitten in an interrogation room being knocked around by a detective (or whatever they call them across the ocean) because he believes that Kitten, being Irish, had something to do with it. They kept him there for seven days - the maximum they could keep him - and while he jokingly or perhaps insanely made admissions of guilt, they knew that he wasn't being serious. But because he was Irish, they figured he was in on the scheme.



When he is finally released, he begs them to allow him to stay. He doesn't want to be released back into a world where everything and everyone is so "serious", but they toss him out. They can't keep him any longer. Watching him beg to stay was disturbing, but for the first time, really, we saw that although he was in a world that he found far too "serious" and was existing in it bravely, that world terrified him. He would have preferred to stay in jail.



The "epic" in this story is the quest for Kitten to find his birth mother, and all the different places that quest takes him - even while he is waylaid at times from this, usually for a man, as he will accept the affection and attention that almost any man will give him. It's so horribly sad to see such desperation - which Murphy and those eyes of his display so perfectly.



Whether he finds his mother is significant, and if I spoke about the results of his quest it would be like telling someone that never watched or read The Lord of the Rings that Gollum bit Frodo's ring finger off and fell into the fires of Mount Doom. (I feel safe saying this because the books have sold almost 200 million copies and the movies generated 2.9 billion dollars.)



But it is the epic quest that he's on, and whether he completes it, and if so how it affects him, is significant.



However it plays out...it will be a joy for you to watch.

"

Thought-Provoking and Brilliant

C. E. Creager | 04/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw this film as a fan of Cillian Murphy, thinking it'd be an enjoyable time. WOW - I was totally unprepared. The film is, as has been said, an emotional rollercoaster, but it's inspirational for anyone, never mind a sweet boy lost in an entirely too serious world.



The cast, directing, lighting, music and script are all fantastic - I've never seen The Crying Game, but who cares if they're similar. Jordan stalwart Stephen Rea is sweetly malevolent (no, not an oxymoron) as Bertie, the magician; Liam Neeson does a fantastic and at times hilarious turn as the town's repressed priest; Ruth Negga is wonderful as Kitten's best friend, and what can one say about Cillian Murphy. Admittedly I'm biased, but the man just blew me away. Amazing talent and a real wish to get into the soul of such a complex character. He's incredibly dedicated to his craft and in this instance, it paid off. It moved me to tears.



The story is choppy and jumps from place to place, but that's the point - at the very beginning of the film, there's even a graphic that says "Chapters From My Life." It's not a linear story, per se; it's a series of interwoven vignettes showing just how Kitten overcomes. If Kitten were just as "serious, serious" as her world, she'd have curled up and died long before the end and everything working out. The music is also fantastic - the soundtrack really embodies Kitten and her never-say-die, understated attitude. Lots of '70s pop and glam rock, most notably Dusty Springfield and "The Windmills Of Your Mind." Great, great choices.



Some closed-minded individuals might draw back in horror at anyone saying they admire a transgendered or gay person, but honestly? This film gives us a character portrait of someone who we'd all do worse than to emulate. Kitten simply never gives up. It's an endearing trait, no matter who you are."