PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The central character in James F. Robinson's feature is a hard-boiled con woman who nonetheless has a desperate yearning to find true love. When she accidentally meets her dream man, a childlike street musician, she is unwilling to trust her instincts and spends a good deal of time resisting him.
The same effect is likely to occur with moviegoers, who may at first resist the charms of "Still Breathing" until they are ultimately seduced.
Flawed and uneven, the film is nonetheless an example of an all-too-rare commodity: a true romance. Recently showcased at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, it will be released soon by October Films.
Joanna Going, who seems to become more luminous with each film, plays Roz, who cons rich admirers into buying expensive art. Brendan Fraser is Fletcher, a San Antonio street musician who, like all his male ancestors, has conjured up the image of his perfect mate in a midnight vision.
Seeing the word "Formosa" and just enough of his beloved's face to create a Cubist representation, he attempts to travel to that distant land (now Taiwan) to find her. Stopping in Los Angeles, he discovers her in the Formosa Cafe, where she mistakes him for the rich Texan she had arranged to meet and fleece.
The resulting emotional tango forms the heart of the story, which is otherwise populated by a gallery of eccentrics, from Roz's pragmatic partner in crime (Ann Magnuson) to Fletcher's tuba-playing, wisdom-spouting grandmother (Celeste Holm) to a street musician dubbed Tree Man (Lou Rawls).
The film concentrates mainly on the contrast between Fletcher's daffy romanticism and Roz's emotional reserve and works as well as it does because of the leading performers' charms and the writer-director's commitment and lack of self-consciousness.
The story strains credibility -- Roz, for example, is a supposedly smart cookie but takes forever to figure out that Fletcher isn't rich -- and Fletcher, whose activities range from rock-arranging to performing puppetry for sick children, is a character that defies belief.
Somehow, though, the melange works.
The film benefits from extensive location shooting in San Antonio, which gives it a freshness that helps us overlook the artificiality of the concept.
STILL BREATHING
October Films
Director-screenplay-producer: James F. Robinson
Producer: Marshall Persinger
Executive producer: Joyce Schweickert
Co-executive producer: Janet Graham
Director of photography: John Thomas
Film editor: Sean Albertson
Music: Paul Mills
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fletcher McBracken: Brendan Fraser
Roz Willoughby: Joanna Going
Ida McBracken: Celeste Holm
Elaine: Ann Magnuson
Tree Man: Lou Rawls
Philip: Angus MacFadyen
Cameron: Toby Huss
Tomas De Leon: Paolo Seganti
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
The same effect is likely to occur with moviegoers, who may at first resist the charms of "Still Breathing" until they are ultimately seduced.
Flawed and uneven, the film is nonetheless an example of an all-too-rare commodity: a true romance. Recently showcased at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, it will be released soon by October Films.
Joanna Going, who seems to become more luminous with each film, plays Roz, who cons rich admirers into buying expensive art. Brendan Fraser is Fletcher, a San Antonio street musician who, like all his male ancestors, has conjured up the image of his perfect mate in a midnight vision.
Seeing the word "Formosa" and just enough of his beloved's face to create a Cubist representation, he attempts to travel to that distant land (now Taiwan) to find her. Stopping in Los Angeles, he discovers her in the Formosa Cafe, where she mistakes him for the rich Texan she had arranged to meet and fleece.
The resulting emotional tango forms the heart of the story, which is otherwise populated by a gallery of eccentrics, from Roz's pragmatic partner in crime (Ann Magnuson) to Fletcher's tuba-playing, wisdom-spouting grandmother (Celeste Holm) to a street musician dubbed Tree Man (Lou Rawls).
The film concentrates mainly on the contrast between Fletcher's daffy romanticism and Roz's emotional reserve and works as well as it does because of the leading performers' charms and the writer-director's commitment and lack of self-consciousness.
The story strains credibility -- Roz, for example, is a supposedly smart cookie but takes forever to figure out that Fletcher isn't rich -- and Fletcher, whose activities range from rock-arranging to performing puppetry for sick children, is a character that defies belief.
Somehow, though, the melange works.
The film benefits from extensive location shooting in San Antonio, which gives it a freshness that helps us overlook the artificiality of the concept.
STILL BREATHING
October Films
Director-screenplay-producer: James F. Robinson
Producer: Marshall Persinger
Executive producer: Joyce Schweickert
Co-executive producer: Janet Graham
Director of photography: John Thomas
Film editor: Sean Albertson
Music: Paul Mills
Color/stereo
Cast:
Fletcher McBracken: Brendan Fraser
Roz Willoughby: Joanna Going
Ida McBracken: Celeste Holm
Elaine: Ann Magnuson
Tree Man: Lou Rawls
Philip: Angus MacFadyen
Cameron: Toby Huss
Tomas De Leon: Paolo Seganti
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 4/23/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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