The Air I Breathe

2008 "The question is not whether we will die, but how we will live."
6.7| 1h35m| R| en| More Info
Released: 25 January 2008 Released
Producted By: NALA Films
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

A gambler’s bet spiraling into chaos, a gangster's prophetic visions, a pop star’s dark entanglement, a doctor’s desperate race against time to rescue his beloved... Four interconnected stories reveal life unfolding through four emotional pillars — joy, passion, grief, and love.

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Reviews

Flyerplesys Perfectly adorable
ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!
Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
Liam Blackburn This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. How is this rated 7 by living breathing humans. This fact alone makes me seriously question the validity of creating the human race. How can this movie be rated a 7? Are people that silly that they could glean some sort of cinematic enjoyment from this? There is literally no plot whatsoever. There is no likable characters. I don't care if this is @based on some Chinese proverb@, that doesn't make it deep. Where is the Chinese proverb for crappy movie? He who does not have a brain shall enjoy brainless movie? I admit it started off half-decent , but after 10 minutes and when the guy robs the bank that has got to be the most stupid and uncalled for scene in movie that is actually trying to take itself seriously.
celluloidkiwi This film has great direction,concise editing,high production values and superb acting. The shortfall is the handling of plot-over-characters rather than having characters truly driving the plot. It's a sure thing when a writer has an otherwise intelligent character suddenly becomes a moron just to satisfy the plot progression, that they sacrificed cohesion for expediency. Really? A toxin researcher almost dies from a snakebite? Quick incision and a suction device curtails any further toxicity. Knowing the job risks? Nobody handling venom or other toxins regularly in a research setting would NOT be prepared with antivenoms aka immunoglobulins. It's just lazy (or inexperienced) writing, or producers in a hurry. The type of story that involves reflectively inter-meshed timelines and character incidentals, requires deft handling to truly work well. Crash did it well, but failed in that it was too race political.Of course people make poor choices sometimes and they get into bad situations; and surely passion is responsible for many. In the end, the message of this movie is: go for it, you might get lucky. Not a single plan came to fruition, but for that of the doctor's. Then again, though this reviewer accepts a world of both coincidence and design, the narrative relied too heavily on coincidence to edify design. Six stars for exceptional effort.
andreea This is honestly one of the best comedies I saw this year. I kept complaining about Hollywood not having made a good comedy for years and there it is, I ran into this beauty, by accident. I need to admit that I was owned by the cover, Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, this must be good - I had my doubts about seeing a movie with Brandon Fraser (really lousy movies in the past) or Sarah Michelle Gellar (I don't consider her talented at all), I said come one, these two can not make Whitaker look bad, he is such an amazing actor.Oh well, it's not them that made Whitaker look bad, it's the whole movie. The acting was just as bad, but the story, oh the story, was so dull, incredibly unreal and maybe focused on 14 year old. It didn't make any sense. I kept asking myself all the time why is that guy doing that, is there any sense in this whole thing? Not to mention the fact that - the movie is made of 4 different stories - there is completely no connection whatsoever between the story. I could as well have taken 3 random people from the street and they would have been more related to each other than the people in this movie. The time sequence is completely screwed up, things happen in a completely unrelated order. I consider it painful to go into the story, but it really didn't make any sense, I found myself laughing out loud after the first 10 minutes and I continued to do so. I must admit that it was entertaining at least. Completely unbelievable, it's not only that I didn't care about the characters at all, as they were so badly built, but, after Whitaker got shot, I just wanted all to die: Garcia is a frustrated gangster, deciding to go straight, so he only beats up and kills his own people; Bacon is on speed the whole movie, going about like a maniac; Fraser wants to look depressed and mysterious, a character with a touch of darkness who, apparently, falls in love and turns good but he succeeds to look like he just had a bad meal in all the important scenes and Gellar, oh she tries to act! She tries to look frightened, to look hurt or whatever human emotions, oh well she succeeds to look like she is faking acting, a spoiled kid who got a role in a movie.Well, you can watch it if you want to have a laugh. For any other consideration, do not let the distribution full you, Whitaker made a good role, but he was really lonely in this one.
jotix100 Another story in which the characters in the four vignettes are intertwined in different ways, appear to be a favorite of film makers lately. The film follows the concept of "Short Cuts", "Babel", "Amores perros" and others of this genre in a film that keeps the viewer's attention from the beginning. It also marks a film debut of a director whose roots are a mixture of Asian philosophy with an American point of view.There are four sections, or stories. The first one, Happiness, involves an accountant who is a milquetoast. He works for an investment firm where his fellow workers don't show him any kind of respect. When he hears a few of them talking about a sure way to making some money by betting on a horse running in a race that seems to be rigged, he decides to go to the joint and places his bet. Little does he know the man in charge of the illicit business, Fingers, really wants to know how he learned about his underground operation and decides to make good to his nickname by showing the amateur man never to cross him again. He then decides to take matters into his own hand by robbing a bank in order to replace the money he lost.The second story Fingers right hand man, Pleasure, a soft spoken thug, is entrusted with his boss' visiting nephew, Tony, who has his eye into breaking in crime. Alas, Tony, is more interested in bedding women than anything else. The best thing though is the discovery of a new singer, that catches the henchman's attention. They will be tragically connected to one another in the next episode, titled Sorrow. The singer is a protégé of Fingers. She wants to break away from this creepy man desperately. She finds a refuge in Pleasure's home, only to be discovered by Fingers and his men. She is made a prisoner because she has shown disloyalty to her benefactor.The last vignette is about Love, a doctor that attended Pleasure when he was brought to the emergency room. We get to know he had loved Gina, a beautiful young woman who met and married his best friend. She is a researcher working with snakes. When she is bit by one, she goes into a sort of coma, as the antidote doesn't seem to work. Because of a rare blood type, it is almost impossible to save her unless a donor is found. The doctor happens to see an interview with Sorrow, who also has the same type, so he enlists her to help Gina. When all is said and done, we watch as Sorrow goes through an airport because a new freedom she found with the help of Happiness unexpected gift.The film, directed by Jieho Lee and with a screenplay by Bob DeRosa keeps the viewer involved at all times. The best thing Mr. Lee did was getting an ensemble kind of acting from his large cast. Best of all, in our humble opinion, was Andy Garcia, who gives one of his strongest performances in years as the criminal Fingers. Forest Whitaker also has some good moments playing against type. Brandon Fraser, Kevin Bacon, Emile Hirsh, and Julie Delpy, contribute to our enjoyment.One can only wish Mr. Lee a long career in films.