Transamerica

From Transamerica, you can feel that the producer had ambitions for an Oscar, but the relatively sober script and conventional direction thwarted these ambitions. Nevertheless, this tragicomic road movie is not a misstep - on the contrary, it is a fresh, from my point of view typically four-star film that benefits from both the attractiveness of the subject matter and decent cast, but primarily from the excellent performance of the main actress Felicity Huffman, who delivers a remarkable performance in the role of a transsexual. Perhaps the film's greatest advantage is that it doesn't push too hard, either by not using all the possibilities that the somewhat bizarre environment and lives of transsexuals can offer or by not delivering some sort of message. The film has several bitter scenes depicting misunderstandings between parents and children, several humorous lines ("This wouldn't have happened to you if you'd gone to church instead of a synagogue"), and well-selected music. Overall impression: 75%. (07/08/2008)