Monday Musings

I came across this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson and it resonated with me in a strangely familiar manner.

"What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.

It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own;

But the great person is one who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."

Weekend Recommendation - Transamerica (2005)

2005 was a fabulous year for movie goers. We were flooded with so many good movies. And each one of them broke away from the stereotypical storylines and stood out. Lot of these movies garnered good attention.

Unfortunately Transamerica was one movie which got lost in the crowd. Apart from the Best Actress nomination for Felicity Huffman (I thought she should have won), the movie didn't generate much press.

Felicity Huffman plays a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual, who gets a call from a 17-year oldwho claims to be his son from an one-time encounter in college. After some persuasion from her psychartist, she makes the trip to NY where he is in jail. She ends up bailing him out. All this while she withholds her identity. Instead she introduces herself as a christian missionary. The rest of the movie is about their road trip back to the west coast.

The movie, albeit flawed in parts manages to stay clear of the sentimental mush. The movie is funny and moving at the same time. The movie undoubtedly belongs to Felicity Huffman. Her nuanced and understated performance is what makes the movie for me.

My rating : 4 out of 5