Writer/director Neil Jordan revisits some of the themes from his earlier career - including transvestism and IRA terrorism - with this surreal rite-of-passage tale. Set in the glam rock-soaked 1970s, this whimsical movie is based on the imaginative novel by Patrick McCabe, who also collaborated with Jordan on The Butcher Boy . It's the flamboyant yet poignant story of cross-dressing teen Patrick "Kitten" Braden (Cillian Murphy), whose determination to find his real mother leads to an outrageous series of misadventures. While crackling with political tension and sinister unease, events are largely played for laughs - albeit of the darkest variety. Aside from Murphy's delightfully exaggerated performance, there are a host of vibrant characters, including Stephen Rea's sensitive magician and Liam Neeson's emotionally tortured priest. Occasionally the film is too self-consciously left-field, but it's hard not to be won over by the sheer optimism of Jordan's colourful fantasy.

In the 1970s, a young transgender woman called “Kitten” leaves her small Irish town for London in search of love, acceptance, and her long-lost mother.