Breakfast on Pluto (2005, UK)

Neil Jordan’s film is based on a novel by Patrick McCabe, but plays like The Crying Game as seen through Dil’s eyes. Despite the narrative and occasionally thematic similarity between the two films, Patrick “Kitten” Braden, the hero(ine) of Breakfast, is a fully realized character in the way that Dil, the transsexual love interest in Crying, never was. In the role, Cillian Murphy shows us a sweetness and power that has been underutilized in nearly all of his films thus far, save perhaps Intermission. There are also some fun turns by Jordan regulars – Liam Neeson as a regretful priest, and Stephen Rea as a wide-eyed magician, as well as Brendan Gleeson in a hilarious 5-minute bit that is impossible to justly describe in this space. However, Murphy carries the full weight of the film, weaving in and out of the highs and lows of life as an idealistic young transsexual in the 1960’s and 70’s. His character faces near-constant threats to both idealism and safety, but Murphy never allows Kitten’s protective barrier of charm slip. In one scene, two IRA militants threaten Kitten with death after he discovers a cache of weapons hidden in his boyfriend’s house. Thrown in a pit and threatened with guns, Kitten continues to joke and verbally play with his captors until he has finally impressed his humanity onto them, and they walk away without doing him harm.

Having Murphy to center the film works well, as the picture itself seems trapped between exposing its audience to the rather gritty, ugly underbelly of Kitten's life, and presenting the world as the setting for a modern fairy tale. Kitten’s narration and relentlessly optimistic mindset plays to the fairy tale, while the action on screen often offers a different version of events. Though Jordan does manage to make clear his strongest theme, the power of the imagination to create worlds within the mind that can in turn affect everyone and everything around an individual, the tone of the film is a bit muddled. On the other hand, there’s no denying that Breakfast is a fun watch – the play of fantasy and pure free spirit, along with Murphy’s incredible performance, prove stronger than the occasional lapses in tone and energy.

However enjoyable it might be, Breakfast raises one rather large issue, common to Jordan’s previous films – specifically The Crying Game and Mona Lisa. As a writer and director, he is quite obviously fascinated by transgender characters (there’s even a male-to-female transsexual in The Good Thief, who is delightful, though inexplicable in some ways), but he doesn’t seem ready to fully deal with the realities of alternative sexualities. Despite a couple of boyfriends and a few stints as a sex worker, Kitten’s sex life is never really investigated. The audience never sees him even kiss a lover or a john. His desires are portrayed as purely romantic, never sexual. Jordan walked a similar line in Crying, playing Dil’s sexuality for shock value as much as emotional content, but he still ended up firmly placing her as a romantic idealist. Likewise, the simplistic and sensationalistic portrayal of lesbianism in Mona Lisa is just as troublesome as these transvestite eunuchs, if not more so.

There are certain aspects of Kitten’s story that Jordan sees clearly, but his views of alternative sexualities have long been problematic, and this ends up impacting Breakfast’s overall effect. Because of Jordan’s hesitancy to depict Kitten’s burgeoning sexuality as he grows into adulthood (while simultaneously not sparing on the sexual proclivities of other characters), he misses a genuine chance at depicting a whole character. As sexuality and sexual fantasy, especially for one such as Kitten, often provide a bridge to the real world, a true opportunity has been missed here. Had Jordan been able to engage this element, perhaps a greater balance between reality and fantasy could have been struck.