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'Breakfast on Pluto' is smart, mischievous, fearless

Only Neil Jordan, the director who gave us the streetwise chatter of "Mona Lisa," the conniving gamblers of "The Good Thief" and Jaye Davidson in "The Crying Game," would examine the IRA and the Troubles through the travails of a cheerful transvestite.

"Breakfast on Pluto" is the cheeky, unpredictable, Candide-like tale of Patrick "Kitten" Braden (Cillian Murphy). Discovered as an infant on the doorstep of the local church by Father Bernard (Liam Neeson), Kitten grows up in a tiny conservative Irish town where sewing sequined beads on your school uniform isn't looked on kindly.

Sony Pictures Classics 'Breakfast on Pluto' B+ The verdict: Stunning turn by Cillian Murphy is the highlight of clever, unpredictable movie. Director: Neil Jordan Starring: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, Laurence Kinlan Run time: 129 minutes Release date: Nov. 16, 2005 Rating: R for sexuality, language, some violence and drug use. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Breakfast on Pluto'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Especially if you're a boy.

Not a minute too soon, Kitten leaves for London in search of his mother — apparently a Mitzi Gaynor look-alike circa "South Pacific." In looking for her, he finds his father, new friends and, ultimately, himself.

Kitten's story is broken into chapters with Dickensian titles like "Chapter 1: In Which I'm Abandoned" or "Chapter 16: In Which I Get Out of My League." He first takes up with Billy Hatchet (Gavin Friday), the macho leader of a band called Billy Hatchet and the Mohawks. It's Billy who gives the movie its title, telling his wide-eyed new lover about how we're all on the astral highway and are going to have breakfast on Pluto. But the Mohawks don't like Kitten joining their group, done up like Cher's idea of an Indian woman. ks don't like Kitten joining their group, done up like Cher's idea of a squaw.

In London, Kitten finds a variety of jobs. Wearing a giant animal suit at a kiddie park. Nestled on a swing like a blushing ingenue at a porn shop peep show. Turning tricks on the dangerous London streets. Being sawed in half by Bertie (Stephen Rea), a down-on-his-luck but infinitely gentle magician who also becomes his lover.

However, there's more to "Breakfast on Pluto" than goofy, arch humor, crazy occurrences and a soundtrack filled with period swill like "Me & Mrs. Jones" and "Honey." The movie can turn deadly serious on a dime. An IRA march in Northern Ireland ends in violence. The blood and chaos that follow a terrorist bombing in London. At one point, Kitten himself is suspected of being a terrorist.

The film can be unexpectedly tender as well. When Rea first courts him, Kitten quiveringly confesses he's not, well, technically a woman. "I know, princess," Rea softly replies.

Already familiar to U.S. audiences as the lead survivor in "28 Days Later," the mad scientist in "Batman Begins" and the villain in "Red Eye," Murphy reveals acting chops these earlier roles, no matter how successfully realized, merely hinted at. He's brilliant here.

As opposed to Davidson, his girlish persona is unmistakably male. Skinnier than Joan Allen, teetering in heels and speaking in a strained falsetto, Kitten tries to maintain the illusion as best he can. The sheer unlikeliness of this oddball self-invention contrasted with his plaintive eagerness to be accepted as he is makes for a delicate balancing act, but Murphy dares us to go with him. And then dares us to go further. The performance is so complete, so fully realized, it holds an often scattered movie together.

That and a veritable who's who of Irish actors. Along with Neeson and Rea, there's Brendan Gleeson and Ian Hart (Professor Quirrell in the first "Harry Potter"), among others. Even Roxy Music's Bryan Ferry shows up in an unsavory cameo.

Perhaps too audacious for some and too coy for others, "Breakfast on Pluto" is one of those mercurial movies where you really have no idea where it'll take you next. Like its star, it's smart, mischievous and fearless.