REVIEW

		RECAP REVIEW AUSTIN CHRONICLE, MARCH 21, 1997 STILL BREATHING Dir/Scr: James F. Robinson; Prod: Marshall Persinger; Co-Exec Prod: Joyce Schweickert; DP: John Thomas; Ed: Sean Albertson; with Brendan Fraser, Joanna Going, Ann Magnuson, Toby Huss, Angus MacFadyen, Lou Rawls, Michael McKean, Celeste Holm, Junior Brown. 35mm, 109 min., 1997 (WP) A breath of fresh air in a world suddenly overpopulated by teen angst and Tarantino knockoffs, this debut feature from San Antonio native Robinson revives the stale notion of the romantic comedy with grace, wit, and sweet panache. In what is certainly his best role to date, Fraser plays Fletcher McBracken, a San Antonio street performer and puppeteer who sees the face of his one true love in a dream (a trait common to the men of his family), and travels to Los Angeles in search of her. Her name is Roz Willoughby (Joanna Going), and she turns out to be a hard-bitten, cynical scam artist who, at first, finds this idealistic Texan to be a bit of a rube. Before you can say Frank Capra, though, she's following Fletcher back to his ancestral manse in South Texas. Here she meets his eccentric family and friends (Celeste Holm is a joy as Ida, the family matriarch) and slowly, inexorably finds herself falling in love with this wildly improbable Romeo. Robinson's film is pure, romantic poetry, a love note to the world-at-large, and especially Texas. The soundtrack, cinematography, and acting coalesce to form a picture-perfect vision of what love should -- and can -- be. Delicious, giddy, and delightfully sly, Still Breathing is the best romantic comedy of the Nineties thus far. -- Marc Savlov Reprinted by kind permission of The Austin Chronicle.
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