A warm, bawdy Spanish musical delight, 20 CENTIMETERS is among the most unlikely crowd-pleasers of the year. Writer/director Ramón Salazar’s gorgeous and funny portrait of a narcoleptic, pre-op transsexual prostitute is brimming with Almodóvar-like camp and energetic high style. Unconventional beauty Marieta (born as Adolfo) walks the streets of Madrid, earning the cash to subsidize her dream of surgical transformation. More than anything Marieta wants to lose those pesky-but-eyepopping 20 centimeters (you do the math), which enthrall her clients but remain an obstacle to full womanhood. Her hilarious but poignant saga is complicated by a tendency toward ill-timed unconsciousness, which gives the filmmakers license to stage some of the lushest fantasy musical sequences this side of CHICAGO. The increasingly wacked-out yet gratifying musical numbers feature material as varied as Madonna, Queen and Ani DiFranco as well as ultra-stylish design, saturated colors and elaborate choreography. But Salazar never allows these visually striking sequences to overwhelm 20 CENTIMETERS, which stays rooted in Marieta’s passionate quest for love and completion. Embodied with fearless grace by Monica Cervera, Marieta remains the romantic heart that beats at the center of this delightful, accomplished film.