..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

Breakfast
on Pluto

Directed by Neil Jordan
Sony Pictures Classics

It has looked, from an early perspective on the fall, like a big year for new or relatively new filmmakers. Fernando Meirelles (2nd released in America) has led the way, with films from Sam Mendes (3rd), Rob Marshall (2nd), Susan Stroman (1st), Tom Bezucha (2nd), Bennett Miller (2nd), George Clooney (2nd) and Steve Zaillian (3rd) among the directors of some of the most anticipated titles of the fall.

But what is emerging quickly and without brakes is the notion that 2005 may be best remembered as the year some veterans delivered career bests. We’ve already seen Cronenberg top himself with A History of Violence and James Mangold has done his best work with Walk The Line. Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Jim Sheridan, Ang Lee, and Woody Allen are all aiming for the top.

And then there’s Neil Jordan.

He is probably the least appreciated of the current roster of great directors in the game. Whether it is was the terribly underappreciated We’re No Angels, which is the first and one of the best DeNiro comic performances, the undervalued work on a complex Interview With The Vampire, the in-your-face power of The Butcher Boy, the romantic gem of The End of The Affair, or the virtually unseen black hearted joy of The Good Thief, Jordan is never a lightweight, never less than interesting (even when he misses the mark, as with In Dreams), and capable of true magnificence.

And that brings us to Breakfast on Pluto.

One almost wants to see how other top directors would approach this material, written as a novel by second-time Jordan collaborator Patrick McCabe. But it’s hard to imagine almost any other top director finding himself interested in pushing himself to find the degree of humor, politics, sexual investigation and -- at bottom line -- tenderness that Jordan has found in this material.

The film has many of the hallmarks of Jordan, from the complex and delightful use of period music to religion and “the Irish issue,” to sexual ambiguity, to a fearless mix of comedy and high drama. Many of Jordan’s regulars turn up her in letter-perfect cameos, from Stephen Rea to Brendan Gleeson to Ian Hart to Liam Neeson (in his third Jordan film), all of whom are really excellent here. (Even Butcher Boy Eamonn Owens gets a small role.) But he also mines great new talent like the unexpected Bryan Ferry and his young star, Cillian Murphy, whose last film before his American breakthrough in 28 Days Later was for Jim Sheridan’s daughter Kristin in the still-unreleased-in-the-U.S. Disco Pigs.

Cillian Murphy, of all of the young, up-n-coming actors with challenging, Oscar-buzz roles this fall, is the most likely to grab an Oscar nomination, no matter what challengers come. Heath Ledger and Phillip Seymour Hoffman both give wonderful, award-worthy performances in their films. But it is Murphy who delivers something like nothing we have ever seen before. It is Murphy who is utterly unexpected... especially after Batman Begins and Red Eye. It is Murphy who delivers an emotional range that trumps all other comers. When it comes time for critics to get behind one or two small movie performances – and all of these actors will need that support to even be in serious Oscar play by the time push comes to shove – it is hard to imagine many groups outside of New York City (and that is really unfair to say of the New Yorkers) that will find Murphy falling behind into second place.

But this movie is first and foremost a triumph for Neil Jordan. Amazingly, his film covers nearly the same exact period of time as Brokeback Mountain does, albeit his hero/heroine is about 10 years younger than the Brokeback characters. Still, the social morays of Catholic Ireland in that period were certainly no less challenging than those in the American west. Yet, Jordan and McCabe reach well beyond the simple issue of fully realizing your sexuality in a repressive situation, giving context to the period, a real examination of the opportunities and fallbacks of being gay in the era, and a real understanding of how the horrors of that period – in Ireland, the very deadly battles between the Irish and the English – gave perspective to personal issues. In so many ways, Breakfast on Pluto is the antidote to the hand-wringing of the film version of Brokeback Mountain.

Jordan makes his choices seem so obvious... a remarkable illusion. Something as silly as animated blue jays... something as universal as a child having a good old time mocking their parent only to have the offer of love withdrawn to great pain... something as magical as a child’s imagination about how his unnamed/unknown parents came to have a child... something that says as much as a Catholic school boy who as so come to control his sliver of the world that the priests don’t even worry about the feminine embroideries on his uniform anymore without a word of dialogue about it. And that’s just the first 20 minutes or so.

There are not many filmmakers who can or are even willing to make an interrogation scene both horrifying and dead funny. There are few filmmakers who would allow a character as flamboyant as Patrick “Kitten” Brady (after St. Kitten) to be judged in the emotional heart of the film only as “Kitten” would judge himself. Jordan gives you some real human perspective on the situation with the IRA back then, without ever getting “political,” but he makes his anti-war message strongly as well. When major events happen, they are sometimes as bland as real life. When minor events happen, they are sometimes written as large as they feel to us as we remember them.

To get into details of this story would be to unfairly take away the joy of the ride. It is rarely as expected and it never feels like it is being unique for the sake of being able to claim uniqueness. It is, in many ways, the culmination (for now) of his career, using all the tools he has developed on so many films. There may be more dramatic moments here or more action there or bigger laughs somewhere. But Breakfast on Pluto feels like a topper. And it is likely the Indie/Dependent movie to beat for a Best Picture nomination this year, assuming that a film in that group makes it... and one usually does.

But the Oscar season will continue to play out through the rest of Telluride and into Toronto, so let’s backburner that issue for now... and just say, Breakfast on Pluto is clearly the kinky indie find of the year so far. It is a masterwork from a master filmmaker. And that’s a pretty good start.

- David Poland