Review of Breakfast on Pluto (2005) by Jennetp — 19 Mar 2011

Once again, the users have more collective insight than the critics. This film was lovely: funny, sad, and hopeful without ever straining after cheap emotion. The raves for Cillian Murphy's performance are richly deserved; his "Kitten" is sensitive, imaginative and sweet but also callow and self-absorbed, though this shortcoming that so peeves the critics (who, presumably, were running soup kitchens when THEY were 17) helps protect him from the violence in his life.

Moreover, he gives it up in the course of the film, moving from sentimental, overly-scripted fantasies about love to the real thing with all its muddle and mess. Unlike "The Crying Game," the IRA is at the edges of this film, which I found interesting and probably closer to the experience of most in Northern Ireland and England at the time.

The conflict would fade away entirely as the film attended to private concerns, exploding back onto the screen when least expected. There's lots more to praise: wonderful casting, even in very small roles (seeing Bryan Ferry was fun); outstanding costumes; perfect music, not only to evoke the period but also to comment on the action.

I think Neil Jordan hit this one out of the ballpark, to use a phrase American critics will recognize, and I'm sorry it didn't garner more of their accolades. Oh well, they didn't like "Blade Runner" either, which may actually have helped the film's reputation.