Dancer, Texas . Austin Chronicle . 03-30-98

Dancer, Texas

DIRECTED BY: Tim McCanlies

REVIEWED: 03-30-98

A winsome sweetness marks writer-director Tim McCanlies' debut feature Dancer, Texas Pop. 81, a sweetness made all the more dear for the film's agile sidestepping of any tendency toward cloying sentimentality or trite homilies. Dancer, Texas bursts with fresh attitude and a genuine love of its characters and location. The story zeroes in on four West Texas small-town boys whose childhood vow to leave on the first bus out of Dancer following their high school graduation, has now reached the "put-up or shut-up" stage. The events are compressed into the span of one weekend as each character struggles to make his peace with the conflicting desires of breaking free and staying put. Although the conflicts are the universal dilemmas of young adulthood, McCanlies also imbues his movie with the distinctive color of regional specificity. Modern life in a small Texas town hasn't been depicted with this much soulful passion since The Last Picture Show. In the film's four leads, McCanlies also finds effective communicators of the brave uncertainty that's required in order for young adults to consciously leap into the rest of their lives. It's possible to trace Dancer, Texas' lineage to a such films as American Graffiti and Diner, yet what these films have in common is greater than mere subject matter - what they share is an abiding love and respect for their characters. The local colors of Dancer, Texas are painted with a vivid American palette.

--Marjorie Baumgarten

Capsule Reviews
Dancer, Texas
Dancer, Texas

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