Breakfast On Pluto [DVD] [2005]

It isn't easy being Patrick "Kitten" Braden, an effeminate young boy who likes to dress up in his mother's clothes and pop on some lippy. But he has a wicked sense of humor and a penchant for story telling, and it is these qualities that allow him to cope with growing up in the puritanical Ireland of the 1960's and 70's, where everyone either labels him as different or some kind of harbinger of the devil.

Ma Braden (Ruth McCabe) curses the day she took the deviant infant in when he was left on the doorstep of a presbytery. Taken in by the parish priest (Liam Neeson) Patrick is raised by the elderly Ma Braden who is infuriated by this wayward and unusual boy. Patrick realizes that anyone who doesn't like the fact that he cross-dresses just can't be his mother. So off he goes to London to search for the mother who deserted him.

The only clue to who she might be is that she bears a striking resemble to Mitzi Gaynor. In his mind's eye, he envisions her in soft blond curls riding on a red trolley car, and she becomes almost a mythical figure to him. Patrick's search is at a time of extreme conflict between the Irish Republican Army and British military and even though Patrick/Kitten abhors violence; he appears chameleon-like during harrowing moments and gets himself in all sorts of terrible situations.

Breakfast on Pluto has a lovely bouncy ebullience - courtesy of a terrific period soundtrack - and the dashes of fantasy are beautifully melded into the film's quirky humor and quick-witted irreverence. But the film is very episodic and a little over-long for this type of material. The pacing is good, and the narrative is broken up into lots of short, sharp vignettes that never allow the movie to sag; yet the essential conceit of Patrick constantly looking for unconditional love does get a bit repetitive.

It is the amazing Cillian Murphy who holds this film together and he is nothing short of astounding, and he also should have received an Oscar nomination. The irony is that in many of the drag scenes he looks better as a woman than as a man! It's a charming, understated performance, with Murphy expressing his character's androgyny as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

The supporting players also provide richly nuanced roles: Ruth Negga is excellent as Charlie who accepts Patrick without question and Stephen Rea is also good as Bertie the Magician, a sweetly sad middle-aged man who takes wandering Patrick under his wing. Punk-rock pioneer Gavin Friday is amusing as a '70s glam-rocker who also cares for Patrick along the way. Bryan Ferry shows up as a "john" with evil intentions, and Brendan Gleeson also gets in on the act as Uncle Bulgaria, who convinces Patrick to join him working as one of the Wombles of Wimbledon Common.

Although Breakfast on Pluto was released at the same time Transamerica, it was Transamerica that got most of the accolades - it was the better film. Yet, Breakfast On Pluto is still an offbeat delight, jammed with eccentric characters and spot-on performances. With all the troubles of the 1970's the IRA and the bomb attacks in London, Kitty remains the ultimate optimist, constantly bending reality to suit his own needs, believing that love will conquer all and hoping that one day he will realize his fantasy of finding his long lost mother. Mike Leonard April 06.

Slightly slow paced at times but none the less, Breakfast on Pluto is a beautiful and fantastic movie. The 1970's backdrop for the movies gives cause for a fabulous soundtrack which I whole heartedly recommend to you, the book which it is based on, however, I don't.

Breakfast on Pluto's star Cillian Murphy is to be congratulated on his brilliant portrayal of the character Kitten, a delightful and comical character whose story we follow throughout the film. Murphy's acting is simply charming; he really makes the character his own and plays the part magnificently.

Despite the tepid success received by Breakfast on Pluto in the box office, I would actually say to take a chance on the film. The story line is different to be fair, but change is not always a bad thing, and this emotional rollercoaster of a story is one of the most beautiful I have seen in the cinema all year. Kitten, Murphy's character, will one moment have you laughing and the next crying and then the next cringing in your seats before laughing and crying all over again.

I highly recommend this movie to you, and give it 10/10

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Despite some highly enjoyable moments, Neil Jordan's Breakfast On Pluto has to be counted among his sporadic failures. Working from another Patrick McCabe novel, this is no Butcher Boy. Following another maladjusted foundling at odds with the vigorous conformity of small-town life, this episodic cross dressing chronicle of Patricia Kitten Braden and "her" search for "her" mother and love in the Ireland and England of the 70s against a background of flared trousers, platform heels and IRA bombings is a much more optimistic tale. Relying on the kindness of strangers, Kitten's good nature even makes an unlikely guardian angel out of the cop who beats him up after a pub bombing in which s/he becomes the prime suspect. Yet despite the very different perspective, at times it almost feels like it's running through a checklist. Priests seducing their housekeepers? Check. Schoolboy priest baiting? Check. Mocking the paramilitaries until things get serious, serious, serious? Check. "I'm not a girl"? (One for the Jordan fans there) Check. Surreal flights of comic fancy to offset the tragedy and darkness? Check. Even the supporting cast feels like Jordan trotting out the repertory company of old favorites - along with Liam Neeson there's also the inevitable Stephen Rea, Ian Hart and Brendan Gleeson in a Womble suit. There's something just a little bit tired about it all.

It's a film that needs a strong, charismatic central performance to pull it all together, and Cillian Murphy's Kitten just doesn't quite work. He looks uncannily right for the part, with the kind of pansexual look you'd find in glam rock stars like Marc Bolan from the era if they'd gone that extra mile, but the voice is a real problem: aside from being so soft spoken that it's a good job the DVD comes subtitled to pick up what he's saying, it never convinces that there's a real person under the affectations and seems to leaves the wardrobe and makeup to do more of the work, resulting in a rather superficial performance. You observe the character but you don't care about her. Liam Neeson doesn't fare too well either, with only the latter scenes playing to his strengths as an actor and too many of his early ones emphasising his weaknesses. In many ways the film's real standout performances come from Gavin Friday's gay singer Billy Hatchett who Kitten charms right out of the closet and Ruth Negga as one of Kitten's loyal childhood friends.

As Breakfast On Pluto it ambles along in its overlong, unfocused way, it's hard to dislike - after all, how can you hate a film that uses a pair of gossipy robins as a Greek chorus? - but it's definitely a film that diminishes in the memory shortly after seeing it.