As the plot strands begin to coalesce everything becomes far too overwrought.
The Air I Breathe (2007)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:23
Fresh:3
Rotten:20
Average Rating:3.9/10
Consensus: The Air I Breathe is a jumbled indie production that accomplishes little save for the squandering of a talented cast.
Synopsis: Solid performances from an all-star cast bring this ensemble drama to life. As parallel stories unfold, the viewer discovers unlikely connections between several seemingly unrelated people. Though... Solid performances from an all-star cast bring this ensemble drama to life. As parallel stories unfold, the viewer discovers unlikely connections between several seemingly unrelated people. Though the film is divided up into segments entitled "Happiness," "Pleasure," "Sorrow," and "Love," the mood is melancholy overall. Splattered with violent acts, THE AIR I BREATHE touches on the aforementioned themes and more, pondering the meaning of life and death through characters who live on the edge and risk everything for the thrill of joy, chance, and escape, even if that means death. The film begins with Forest Whitaker playing a bored and frustrated nine-to-fiver who feels stuck in his routine. After taking a huge risk on a whim and losing it all, the doomed businessman has the unlucky fortune of meeting with Brendan Fraser's character, a numb hit-man who feels no remorse until crossing paths with a troubled pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar). At the center of much of this chaos is Fingers (Andy Garcia), a ruthless villain intent on killing anyone who gets in the way of his success. Though the plot at times feels contrived with all its strategically placed coincidences, writer-director Jieho Lee anchors the film with clever editing and a thoughtful script, which is careful to cover events from multiple points of view. Julie Delpy and Emile Hirsch give dimension to the stories as secondary characters whose actions become central to the plot. [More]
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker, Brendan Fraser, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Andy Garcia, Julie Delpy, Clark Gregg, Emile Hirsch
Director: Jieho Lee
Director: Jieho Lee
Screenwriter: Jieho Lee, Bob DeRosa
Producer: Paul Schiff, Emilio Diez Barroso, Darlene Caamano Loquet, Ian Duncan
Composer: Marcelo Zavros
Studio: ThinkFilm
Reviews for The Air I Breathe
The movie takes itself way too seriously, and it doesn’t add up to much, but, nevertheless, it’s borderline entertaining.
Your appreciation of this circular plotting will have a great deal to do with how tongue-in-cheek you believe the film is
Mr. Lee is a former director of Asian music videos, which explains why his debut feature, from the high-octane opening credits to the Marnie-esque ending, is all style and no substance.
A perfectly awful example of a certain breed of American indie film that brings together a lot of familiar faces for an ensemble drama about...nothing.
None of the four morality plays ... are necessarily original in plot, nor is the film itself particularly innovative in its structure ... it just seems flat and useless.
Aside from demonstrating how liberation and change can occur even at the most dire turn of events, it's not exactly clear exactly what his overly ambitious drama is trying to say.
Brendan Fraser is Pleasure, Sarah Michelle Gellar is Sorrow, Kevin Bacon is Love, Forest Whitaker is Happiness, and the director is Pretension.
I can't fault any of the actors for anything other than bad judgment. Their performances are fine, but a good fortune cookie might have told them to stay away from this.
A stew of cheap irony, ponderous but meaningless allegory, violence and pretension, the movie is all borrowed style and calculated pandering. It does, however, get more ludicrous by the minute. So in that sense, it's good for an occasional laugh.
not a nihilistic work of cinematic art, but a laugh-out-loud slapstick free-for-all.
Four unappealing mini-dramas about happiness, pleasure, sorrow, and love.
Ah, January, hallowed dustbin for projects half-baked, too cooked, or both, as in the case of this overstuffed actioner.
With any luck, The Air I Breathe should be the last gasp of the faux-Altmanesque school of serendipitous storytelling.
It’s particularly frustrating to watch Whittaker, the strongest thespian of the bunch, desperately mine for gold in a narrative landslide.
[Jieho] doesn't know what to do with actors, however, and the film's impressive ensemble is wasted.
Ignore all of that foolishness and watch the collision of emotions The Air I Breathe provides -- it is enough all by itself to leave you breathless.
For rock-bottom nasty, with no social relevance, there is The Air I Breathe, a load of amateurish bilge so silly I thought I was watching a screening at Comedy Central.
Latest News for The Air I Breathe
January 26, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review ![]()
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January 24, 2008:
Critics Consensus: Rambo is No Rocky, Guess Meet the Spartans Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we've got vigilante justice, internet intrigue, deft dancing, and Spartan satires. What do the critics have to say? More...
January 13, 2008:
trailer and trailer review ![]()
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November 30, 2006:
Marcelo Zarvos scores The Air I Breathe ![]()
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