Telluride 2005 #3

It is very hard to do a good job of writing about a movie of such idiosyncratic brilliance as Neil Jordan's latest Breakfast on Pluto, which was the third of this year's Telluride @ Dartmouth features. Cop-out though it may be, I would like to quote the official Telluride blurb on this movie, as I think it is a great short review.

Neil Jordan (Crying Game, Mona Lisa) adapts Patrick McCabe's novel about a boy born to be different. Patrick Brady (Cillian Murphy) is abandoned as a baby in a small Irish town, escapes to London and, as a witty and deceptively tough young transvestite, searches for his mother and learns to navigate big-city life. Jordan captures the excitement and political turmoil of the 1970s in a film that's alternately hilarious, moving and magical. Murphy has quietly impressed audiences in films including 28 Days Later and Batman Begins, but nothing could prepare us for this stunning performance — it's certain to be his coming out.

The main thing to add is that Neil Jordan has a wonderful gift of matching music to scene and excellent taste in pop/rock music. Very few other directors seems to possess both; the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino are the only names that spring to mind right away. Thanks to the music, what is already one heck of an entertaining and wild ride becomes a truly four-dimensional experience. Score: 9/10