Still Breathing

I loved this film. It is quirky, but one of the most romantic films I've seen. It has a slow methodical pace, similar to The Notebook and follows the get together of an artistic man and a woman of bad sorts shall we say. But in the end, it is an intelligent romance, very dissimilar to the Hallmark factory.

For those thinking this is a chick flick, my partner brought this to me because it resonates with our story so strongly. And he is a gun-totin', beer-drinkin', crude & rude redneck. Sometimes it does happen that there's an amazing connection between people who belong together but can't necessarily believe it, because of personal histories and all of the paraphernalia of "real life". And it takes one person to believe all the time, or two people each to believe enough of the time, to carry them through the parts where you just have to *trust* the other person and take the leap. That's really what this movie is about, to us, and it captures all of that just perfectly.

The premise - sweet-natured, goofy guy gradually wins over cynical, sophisticated girl - has been around a long time, but if you get the right people involved and you're working with a patient, thoughtful script, it's foolproof. You can't go wrong. "Still Breathing" is a perfect example of this.

A cool breeze of delicate moments, tender surprises and disarming understatement, it achieves a magic that clunkers like "Simply Irresistable" can only dream about. It understands that romantic comedies are all about the hesitations, the silences, the searching looks - NOT contrived situations and screwball antics.

It also realizes that the actors who are paired have to BELIEVE in the material, in each other, and aren't just there because their agents thought it would be a good career move. Brendan Fraser and Joanna Going trust the script completely, they surrender to it. You can tell by the offhand, unforced way Fraser says his lines - knowing there's really no way he can foul them up. And Going; who looks like Winona Ryder, Teri Hatcher and Alyssa Milano (depending on the angle) shows the emotional turbulence of going from someone who is very sure of herself to suddenly not being very sure about anything at all. She's lost her innocence, then found it again but it's been so long she's lost it that she has a hard time recognizing it. It's also great to see veteran actress Celeste Holm infusing the film with her sparkle and intelligence.

A real pleasant surprise, you just find yourself melting into its gentle rhythms and not wanting it to end.

Still Breathing is a cute, feel good movie for all romantics out there. It is quorky, and even in its simplisitic thinking, it is truly a 'deep movie'. Brendan Fraser is terrific as Fletcher, and Joanna Going is splendid as Roz. However, many people might look down at this movie because it is rather, well, fictional. Many believe that true love is implausible, but this movie teaches that whatever the scenario, true love is completely realistic. I enjoyed this movie very much and hope that, without becoming repetitive, there will be more like it.

With "Still Breathing", Robinson takes a risky but brave approach to romantic comedy/light-drama with a dreamy concoction of unlikely bedfellows, quirky characters, implausibilities, capriciousness, paranormal events, art, and romance. Fraser plays a Texas street performer who seeks out the girl of his dreams (literally) in Los Angeles, a hard-hearted and cynical scam-artist (Going). Viewers will have to shut down the left side of their brains and just go with it to appreciate this fairy tale flick. Those who do may find pleasingly romantic metaphors in piling rocks, stories about windows, and other stuff which left-brainers would deem nonsense. Different enough for a look.