Transamerica

Transamerica (2005) was not the movie I expected it to be. I'm not sure what I expected it to be, but certainly not the movie I saw. The title actually becomes a clever play on words, because not only is it about a person who lives a transgender lifestyle, but its also a road movie. Thus Trans (Latin for across) America. I presume this play was intentional.

It is a very interesting story of two people getting to know each other as they travel from New York to Los Angeles. In this respect its very conventional, but done very well. The catch is in that the travelers are parent and child, although the child doesn't know it and certainly doesn't know the parent's other secret. There is an inevitable discovery of the latter fact that brings some tension mid film, but is quickly overcome. The other secret comes to play in the climax of the film.

Both Felicity Huffman and Kevin Zegers play amazingly rich roles as the parent and child respectively. Huffman as the transgender pre-op who resists having a son but comes to accept it and Zegers as a confused youth, who is grasping at what he considers his last hope, an absent father. By film's end, both characters have changed quite a bit and one is deeply interested in their lives. The final scene, the first stage of a reconciliation between parent and child, is quite moving.