Breakfast on Pluto (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy Drama	Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer Audio Commentary-Neil Jordan and Cillian Murphy
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	123:39 (Case: 135)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (71:26)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Neil Jordan
Studio Distributor	Pathe Films Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Cillian Murphy Morgan Jones Eva Birthistle Liam Neeson Mary Coughlan Conor McEvoy Ruth McCabe Charlene McKenna Seamus Reilly Peter Owens Emmet Lawlor McHugh
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Anna Jordan

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Is the life story of Patrick 'Kitten' Braden (Cillian Murphy), told with a touch of fairytale. From the day that his mother abandons him on the steps of the parish where his father (Liam Neeson) terrors about his priestly duties, through his life as an effeminate teen in the late 60s and, finally, to his young adult life as a transsexual who dabbles in the early 70s entertainment industry as he searches London for his long lost mother.

    Raised by a foster mother who doesn't care for Patrick's eccentricity, Patrick is constantly in trouble at his religious Catholic school. When he's not raising eyebrows for studying home economics instead of woodwork, Patrick has three firm friends; a nerd, a mixed race girl and a disabled boy. The four, each of them outcasts by themselves, together form a camaraderie that sees them through to adulthood. Unfortunately, life isn't going to get any easier for any of them.

    One indiscretion too many sees Kitten kicked out of home. He hooks up with a touring band of musicians led by Billy Hatchet (Gavin Friday), with whom Kitten falls in love. After trouble on tour, and more trouble with the IRA, Kitten leaves Billy and heads for London in search of his long lost mother. Kitten meets a wide range of folks in London who help him on his journey and ultimately he finds the family he's always been looking for, in the last place he would have ever thought to look.

    Breakfast on Pluto makes for a superb counterpoint to Jordan's opus The Crying Game, although there is no direct connection between the two stories. Telling the story of a struggling transsexual against a background of Britain's war with the IRA, Breakfast on Pluto captures the voice of the victim rather than the voice of the aggressor in the long-running conflict. Kitten is but one of the many victims of the conflict that are portrayed in the film. The families of the deceased, those persecuted by the attitudes of the aggressors and the innocent public who want nothing more than to get about their own lives are all presented in compelling detail throughout the film. The era, the conflict and all associated social attitudes are painted perfectly.

    Cillian Murphy is magnificent as Kitten Braden. He builds a character who doesn't simply appeal for sympathy from the audience, but teaches them understanding.

    The supporting cast is brilliant. Liam Neeson, Brendan Gleeson, Stephen Rea and Ian Hart all put in excellent performances. The surprise of the bunch is obscure musician Gavin Friday, whose performance easily matches those of his peers.

    It is a shame that the fact this is a film about a transsexual is likely to put off so many viewers (it certainly did when Breakfast on Pluto was released theatrically, more than 18 months ago), as this is an exceptional film. Breakfast on Pluto teaches the importance of family and understanding without preaching or appealing for sympathy.

Video

    The film is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced. This is close enough to the film's 1.85:1 theatrical aspect.

    The image is quite sharp. Dark scenes feature good shadow detail, however a small degree of low-level noise is visible.

    The film employees a muted colour palette, albeit one filled with bright colours, to achieve the look of the era in which the film is set. The palette is well represented on this disc, and the colours are even throughout.

    There is no sign of undue MPEG artefacts in the film. A small number of very fine film artefacts are visible throughout, however.

    There are no subtitles on this disc.

    This is an RSDL disc. The layer break occurs at 71:26 but was not noticeable on my equipment.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    An English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kbps) audio track and a English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kbps) audio track are present.

    The dialogue is at a good, gentle level in the soundtrack, however some of the thick Irish accents are a little hard to decipher on occasion. The audio appears to be well synchronised to the video.

    The movie features an incredibly boppy soundtrack, filled with great cuts of late 60s and early 70s pop music.

    The surround speakers are put to moderate use throughout the film and create a fairly immersive environment. The subwoofer is used very sparingly and with good effect.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio Commentary with Neil Jordan (Director) and Cillian Murphy (Actor)

    A reasonably interesting commentary with the director and lead actor. For the most part this pair have enough to say to keep things interesting, talking both about this film and past works, but there are occasional dry spells.

Making of Featurette (8:54)

    A brief, press-kit style featurette with a little bit of onset footage mixed between interviews with the cast and crew.

Theatrical Trailer (1:57)

    A fairly nondescript trailer for the film.

Dendy Trailers

    Additional trailers for Unfolding Florence, The Wind Shakes Barley, Water and Tideland.

    The Region 4 release features a Theatrical Trailer for the film that is not found on the Region 1 edition, but misses English, Spanish, French and Portuguese subtitles.

    An offbeat tale of an oppressed man living in turbulent times. Don't let the film subject matter put you off, Breakfast on Pluto is a magnificent film with a message that is relevant to everyone.

    The extras are not terribly meaty but make for a reasonable supplement the film.

    The video transfer is good. The audio is good, also a few of the thick Irish accents sound a little muddy.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall