Yesterday, Chris, Layton, Ian and myself went to see Transamerica. For those not in the know, it's a film about the journey of a male-to-female transgender named Bree (also Stanley, played by Felicity Huffman, of Desperate Housewives fame), in the final days of her transition, and her discovery that she has a son. The son, Toby (played by Kevin Zeigers) is a troubled “teenager” who discovers the identity of his father, after he tries to seduce Bree (one of those awkward moments in the film for the audience, at least for me).
Huffman's performance as a woman playing a man becoming a woman was brilliant, and she did an amazing job at looking the part. I listened to an interview on NPR not that long ago with her discussing this role, and how mentally draining it was to be Bree. All I can say is that she deserved the Golden Globe that she received early last week for the role.
I'd rank it about the same as Brokeback Mountain, and hope that more films like this can be made to tell the thousands of stories of normal people out there.