CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

eddie_baggins Before his long gestating Mowgli hits screens sometime in the near future, Gollum himself Andy Serkis makes his much-anticipated debut behind the camera with this dramatic adaptation of the true life story of polio sufferer and disability campaigner Robin Cavendish.Honing his craft as an assistant on various Lord of the Rings projects, Serkis has certainly been a part of enough largescale filmmaking to know an inside tip or two about what it takes to conjure up a fine piece of cinematic entertainment and that's exactly what he does with Breathe, provides an entertaining, if somewhat light experience that perfectly cradles the middle of the road through its entire runtime.Set over a period of 25 or so years from the late 50's to early 80's, as Garfield's Robin and his wife Diana (played by The Crown's breakout star Claire Foy) face off against Robin's paralysing polio diagnosis, Breathe is a handsomely crafted film (thanks to the work of esteemed DOP Robert Richardson) and one that features a number of likeable performances from its main cast that includes support turns from Tom Hollander and Hugh Bonneville but there's something slightly amiss in Serkis's film that stops it from ever becoming a truly memorable or deeply affecting tale.It'd take a heart of stone to not feel various emotions throughout the film and the relationship between Robin and Diana is a loveable one, even if Serkis could've spent a much larger chunk of time building up their budding romance before polio cruelled their lives together but overall Breathe never clicks into an upper gear as we go through the motions of Robin's initial depression through to his determination to make the most of his life and be there for Diana and their son Jonathan.Produced by Robin's real-life son Jonathan, Breathe is clearly a love letter and a film made with genuine passion and well-meaning intent but for all the good will, it's impossible to call Breathe an out and out success, even if it's likely to become a bit of a TV movie favourite in its future life.Filled with a few too many scenes that don't ring true and some misguided time jumps that take us out of the film, rather than involve us deeper, Breathe should allow Serkis a solid soundingboard to build up his skill as a director as Breathe has wins and losses in equal measure and should be a great learning experience for the talented all-rounder moving forward.Final Say -With committed acting turns and a strong sense of visuals Breathe is always watchable and tells a rather lovely story but for all its good intents and deliveries there's a sense that Serkis's film could've been something far more special had it eschewed some of its cheesier and less successful elements.3 eventful Europe trips out of 5

Neil Welch Newlyweds Robin and Diana Cavendish are entering a happy family life when Robin is suddenly struck by polio and left paralysed from the neck down, dependent on a ventilator to breathe. The medical profession regard their job as ending at preventing him from dying. Robin is not interested in existing on that basis, but Diana wants him to see their son grow up and so a plot is hatched to create a mobile ventilator and, against all medical advice, remove him from hospital and take him home. Robin not only enjoys a full life, but becomes a forceful and active advocate on behalf of emancipating the profoundly handicapped from imprisonment in hospital.This adaptation of Robin and Diana Cavendish's life story is (co-)produced by their son Andrew, and directed by Andy Serkis, better known for his motion-capture performances as Gollum, King Kong, and chimpanzee Caesar. On the basis of this film, he is an accomplished director.This is not a naturally happy subject - the central character is paralysed for life early on - but it is thoroughly engaging in the telling, profoundly uplifting and inspirational, and often surprisingly funny.It is helped enormously by Andrew Garfield as Robin (Claire Foy as Diana is also very good, although the role is pretty thankless). The depths of his despair are not shied away from, but the Robin portrayed in this film is a funny, happy man who almost glows with joy. Far from being simply not dead, and notwithstanding his total reliance on machinery and his support team of family and friends, the Robin Cavendish portrayed in this film truly Lives.This is that rarity, a worthy film which is also enormously entertaining and emotional.

the_mora_family Heartbreaking and yet inspirational. Definitely unconditional love does exist; perhaps not for everyone just because they haven't found it but obvio it does exist. We daily complaint of things that makes us upset and aggravating and yet those things are minors compare to what goes on on other people's life. Amazing performance by Andre Garfield. Thank you to Jonathan Cavendish for sharing his family amazing story

Kapten Video Of all today's famous screen actors, Andy Serkis is one of the most unique ones. Meaning that he's widely known for not "usual" roles but those based on motion capture - Gollum in Tolkien universe, Caesar the smart ape in "Planet of the Apes" franchise.The technology wizards record his movements, create a digital body on top of that but also make a strong use of the man's facial movements and gestures, so the resulting creature would look like lovely yet kind of creepy combination of human and alien.But Serkis seems to have aspirations behind the camera as well. "Breathe" is his directing debut, and there's another one already coming, newest adaptation of "Mowgli" in October.Serkis is not all about action and sci-fi, "Breathe" is based on actual events and has this pleasant old-fashioned look and feel that makes it a promising date movie, and instantly attractive for the little girl living inside every one of us.Based on promotional materials, it looks like a love story, which it is for the first ten minutes or so. Then it turns into an inspirational movie and stays that way. Which brings, sadly, emotionally limp results as my score of 5/10 has already hinted.Plot summary found on IMDB gives a perfect example of what exactly the movie is prepared to offer: "The inspiring true love story of Robin and Diana Cavendish, an adventurous couple who refuse to give up in the face of a devastating disease. Their heartwarming celebration of human possibility..." The couple is played by Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy, sadly the "adventurous" is not saying anything about their sex life.Serkis seems to be a fan of valuing how things look on screen and not if they have any real depth to speak of.His famous performances mentioned above are a good example how the "one-note but pretty" approach can bring awesome results - because the computer-generated images look good and there's also a lot more going on in those movies."Breathe" looks beautiful, but doesn't have any other strengths to support the weak storytelling. There's no depth nor any real development to those relationships and characters that we see on screen.Everybody and everything here is so black and white that it's impossible to relate in an authentic way.It hurts the main character the most. Why exactly are we supposed to find him inspirational as the other characters like to hint at, especially near the end? What kind of relationship does he actually have with his wife, son, friends? We don't see anything explaining that.A long life by itself should not be equalled to good or meaningful one, just as a long marriage by itself is not a sure sign of happy marriage. Clinging to life in the face of adversities is not exactly inspirational, it's something of a basic human instinct, although not everybody in the world has a strong inner contact with it.There's a recent, similar movie "The Theory of Everything" where they at least try to show, why and how the paralysed hero (Stephen Hawking played by Eddie Redmayne) is inspirational to all the others. In "Breathe", they only tell us so, passingly but repeatedly.It's important to add that the movie was produced by real-life Cavendish's son, who co-owns the film company with Serkis.I am quite OK with simplistic stories painted with thick colors - there's nothing wrong with good Hollywood melodrama - but "Breathe" is in dire need of something that would really count as inspirational (well, other than the producers' promise, of course).The greatest cretive success in the movie comes probably as a result of hiring Andrew Garfield as the leading man. He has a suitable physicality and presence for such a role - boyish good looks coupled with a touch of almost child- or animal-like innocence.This made him great also in Mel Gibson's war drama "Hacksaw Ridge". Too bad the material allows him to express his acting range here mostly by smiling, be it sad or happy smile."Breathe" is a mediocre drama suitable for those who can't get enough of sad stories no matter how well they are told. For everybody else, it's an example of what happens when somebody has tried to do something specifically "suitable" for award season.The Oscar nominations are not announced yet but I hope "Breathe" has the same zero-level success as with all the other movie awards so far. It's close to two quite long hours of sweet nothing.For wishing to end with a positive note, I want to say that Serkis has absolutely succeeded in making a feel-good movie about being almost completely paralysed. And there's one truly remarkable, bizarre-looking scene depicting the main hero entering a room chock-full of other similar patients. But that's about all.