Director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) has once again produced a darkly funny film that combines transvestitism and terrorism. The 1970s might have been a time of sexual revolution, but for most of the people in Ireland it was a time of bombings, rioting, sectarian bloodshed and repression. A small town near the border of Northern Ireland was certainly not the place to be strutting down the street in stilettos, particularly if you were a guy.
A baby boy was abandoned at birth on the doorstep of the church by the pretty young blonde who used to keep house for Father Bernard (Liam Neeson). Ten years later the boy was in trouble for wearing his foster sister’s dress and lipstick, and his behaviour was to become more outrageous in his teenage years. Eventually the glamorous cross-dressing Patrick ‘Kitten’ Braden (Cillian Murphy) left the town to see the world and to try and find his mother.
The eternally optimistic Patrick never loses his smile or his unwavering faith in the inherent goodness in all people, although it is a bit of a worry that he seems to believe all the lyrics of the seventies love songs. The politics and violence fade into the background as Murphy’s mesmerising character uses his wit and charm to carve his own way through life. Breakfast on Pluto screens at Joondalup Pines 4-10 December and at Somerville 11-17 December. It is 135 minutes so I suggest you bring some goodies to sip and munch on.
