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Breakfast on Pluto
RainbowNetwork.com
12 January 2006
By Richard Bevan
At first glance there appears (sic) to be similarities between Neil Jordan's latest cinematic release, Breakfast on Pluto, and his 1992 gender bender love tale, The Crying Game. In reality the only parallels that stand up to scrutiny are the fact that central character Kitten in Pluto and Jaye Davison in Crying are extremely convincing cross dressers and that the IRA present a menacing backdrop to the real action—which is love and the search for it.
In Kitten's case, played by the brilliant Cillian Murphy, he's a young boy at odds with his conventional Irish backwater upbringing; he's a boy who longs to find a La, La Land of eternal happiness, away from the harsh realities of repression and sectarian violence.
Set in the mid 70s—giving vent to a smorgasbord of kitsch clothing and Marc Bolan style barnets—this is wonderfully rich tale of almost Alice in Wonderland proportions about a character's journey to find acceptance and contentment.
When Kitten discovers that he was fathered by the local priest (Liam Neeson) and abandoned by his mother, his sets off on a quest to find the women he imagines her to be, a glamorous creature in the vein of one of Hollywood's screen idols, Mitzi Gaynor.
This physical and emotional journey takes him from Ireland to "swinging" London and brings him into contact with all manner of colourful and damaged characters, ranging from a travelling show band (with a refreshing man loving frontman and Shakin' Stevens look-a-like), to a manipulating magician (Stephen Rea) and a sociopath kerb crawler in the unexpected form of a very creepy Bryan Ferry.
The film is littered with wonderful vignettes and scenes, such as the time when Kitten, having joined a band, convinces singer Billy (Gavin Friday) to let him appear as Pocahontas to his new lover's Big Red Indian Chief, much to the consternation of the rest of the band!
Wonderful twists include scenes where two thuggish British police officers act as latter-day knights, endearingly protecting Kitten, where previously they had beaten her to a pulp for suspecting that "she" was a terrorist.
But despite the richness of ideas and characters the problem, as with many contemporary films, is that the end effect feels too episodic and bitty. However, it's a minor criticism. If anything, I guess the real hurdle will be if audiences can take Kitten's pathologically innocent take on life, which, although often amusing, also tends to grate.
Still, we can all learn a lesson from Kitten in how to infuriate would-be terrorists to the extent that they abandon their victims rather than putting a bullet through their heads!
One refreshing element of Breakfast on Pluto is the way bandleader Billy's sexuality is never made an issue. Seeing a character like Billy—who’s one of the boys, worldly, an average Joe and looking like a forty-year-old Elvis—being totally at ease with his sexuality and feelings for the androgynous Kitten, is quite liberating. Especially when you compare such interpretations of gayness to that of The Producers film and stage production.
If you love the music and fashions of the 70s then this is an added bonus to a film that's pleasantly challenging, different, and thankfully devoid of over blown CGI effects about monsters, boy Wizards, or big apes.
Breakfast on Pluto actually looks, and feels, like a film and is definitely worth a trip to your local cinema.
