Breakfast on Pluto

If you have not yet seen the film, there may be some spoilers in here for you! :O

Breakfast on Pluto was seen as a celebration to the end of my art exam, it was sheer coincidence that a friend had watched it a week before it was showing at our small independent cinema, so there was no question towards our visitation.

The tiny screen was packed full of people –namely 50s plus, and yet they were watching the film blind without prior knowledge to the film… how do people do that?

Directed by Neil Jordon –who up to this point I have never heard of, though upon researching (as I always tend to do) he is a rather prolific Irish director, who also directed Interview with the Vampire among numerous other films- Starring Cillian Murphy (Patrick (Patricia) 'Kitten' Braden), Liam Neeson (Father Bernard), Ruth Negga (Charlie), Laurence Kinlan (Irwin), Stephen Rea (Bertie), Brendan Gleeson (John-Joe) and Gavin Friday (Billy Hatchet).

The film follows a busy time in Kitten’s (Murphy) life as he/she attempts to find his/her mother, the film is most definitely a road movie of sorts as Kitten’s journey take us across many colourful characters and scenarios. Oh and did I mention that Kitten is a transvestite in the form of a very feminine Cillian Murphy, whose lips make him look like he was born to play the part.

The film itself is strange, it starts a little corny with talking birds and such then mildly tracks Kitten growing up comedy-esque, then we follow Kitten around when life seems to get a lot more serious, as does the tone, with perhaps some distressing scenes of terrorism, all the while continually popping back to innocent fun. So it would really appeal to anyone; as road movies usually do. If you strip it down to the bare minimum, Breakfast on Pluto is a dramatic comedy set in 60s and 70s Ireland/London.

A comment to the actors, they were great! Knowing Cillian Murphy from extremely different roles I was flabbergasted at how greatly he portrayed Kitten, Murphy is definitely an actor with great potential and large diversity for films!
The supporting cast was also rather good, but then with Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson and Stephen Rea you couldn’t go wrong!

Being based on a book, sometimes effectiveness is lost in the translation, and such sometimes a film comes off as awful compared to the book. Though with Breakfast on Pluto I felt that the film could not get any better (and so I can imagine that it perhaps did justice), lines are delivered perfectly –usually by Murphy- and the film has a great quality, in that you will never know what will happen next.

I felt the soundtrack was awesome, some great tracks fit amazingly with the feel of the film, and without them the film would not have been the same, though it did seem a little loud compared to the film’s sound.

Well besides the good acting, and the great soundtrack there were many a humorous situations throughout the film. I think its safe to safe the best part of the film involved Cillian Murphy as secret agent, deep throat, great stuff!! As well as Kitten’s short lived period at school.

I honestly did not enjoy the robins, I realise the old ladies behind me did, but I didn’t, what else did I not like? It is sometimes a little hard to understand Irish persons, especially when they are extremely softly spoken as Cillian Murphy played this particular role. Though this was not a bad point to the film, it made it a little difficult to understand, especially when the whole cinema was cackling (yes, cackling!) with laughter on a line that I could not hear...

Overall the film was fun, it was probably the most fun film I’ve seen in a while, because it was pure dramatic comedy at its best, and the actors involved simply improved the experience. It’s a film that pretty much anyone could enjoy, and I recommend it to you all!

Cptalbertwesker Rating – 7 ½/10
Breakfast on Pluto was an outstanding road movie with a great cast of actors and a rather strange story to boot, its one of those feel good movies, where everything turns out ok, though with many twists and turns on the way.  I only rate it a half from an eight for the robins, which I disliked, but do not let them fool you that the film will remain just as that, trust me. It gets better.