Mar
13
2008
Breath
Posted by luna6 Leave a Comment
Movie: Breath
Release Date: April 26, 2007
Country: South Korea
Director: Ki-duk Kim
Starring: Chen Chang, Jung-woo Ha, Ji-a Park
Runtime: 84 Min.
Editor Rating: 7.0
Users Rating: 6.22 
(18 votes)
Loading …
For Ki-duk Kim’s 14th film, “Breath”, the continual progression (for the better) of Mr. Kim’s directorial talents seems palatable throughout his enigmatic, but entirely engaging film. Storywise, “Breath” appears simple at first, but when examined closer, a dizzying amount of depth starts to appear. “Breath” is absolutely unique in composition and when taken as a whole, seems to tackle similar subject matter with one of his more popular films “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter … and Spring”, which would be the cyclical nature of the universe, but minus the Buddhist philosophy.
In “Breath” a death row inmate named Jang-Jin (Chen Chang) stabs himself in the neck, which sparks interests from the local news media. A lonely housewife hears of the news event that afternoon. The next morning she finds a woman’s hair clip in her husband’s car. That evening she watches another report on the suicidal death row inmate. She also wears the other woman’s hair clip in front of her husband. They get into an argument and the housewife leaves the house. She walks around town aimlessly and then gets into a taxi cab. On a whim she tells the taxi cab driver to drive her to Hangsung Prison.
She waits outside of the prison until the morning. She then asks to see Jang-Jin and lies to the prison employee that she is his ex-girlfriend. At first the prison employee tells her that she can’t visit him, but the prison warden watches her on CCTV and instructs the employee to let her see Jang-Jin.
Their first visit is short, with the housewife telling Jang-Jin a story about herself when she was 9 years old and how she died for 5 minutes (she held her breath underwater). The housewife then visits Jang-Jin again, but this time she brings along many props. She decorates the room like a spring afternoon and sings to Jing-Jin accompanied by a small boombox. The next visit, the housewife again brings her props only to decorate the visiting the room like a sunny summer day. For her next visit the room is decorated like an autumn day and they kiss for the first time. Their strange relationship seems to intensify. Unfortunately for the housewife, her husband now takes notice of her unexplained trips and follows her to the prison. He then confronts the housewife and asks her to never visit the man again.
While the story seems straightforward when you start to examine the reasons for their actions the film gets more complex. What attracted the housewife to Jang-Jin? What was the attraction between the two? Why did the housewife decorate the visiting room as the different seasons? What was the prison warden’s role in all of this? Ki-duk Kim doesn’t give many easy to discern answers, but rather sprinkles the movie with vague hints. What is most apparent is the continual cyclical nature of what transpires in the film. You can start out with the seasons shown in the film, the movie is set in a frosty winter season and then the housewife cycles through the entire seasons until they are back in winter. You then notice that the death row inmate’s number is 5796. 5-7-9 back to 6 type of number pattern. Then you recall that the housewife died for 5 minutes at the age of 9. Similarly, on December 9, 2005 Jang Jin committed the horrendous act to land him in prison. These similarities are perhaps what draws the characters together. The news reports continually harps on Jang-Jin’s fear of his impending execution. I believe the housewife wanted to express to Jang-Jin that there’s nothing to fear, if he just allows himself the time to breath. Finally to bring home the point of a cyclical universe, think about what happened to Jang-Jin at the end of the movie and what got him on death row in the first place or the way the husband cheated on his wife and the wife’s resulting relationship with the prisoner and the final status of the husband and wife’s relationship by the end of the film. Everything seems to loop all the way around and start back at a similar point but not the same point … like those numbers 5-7-9 and 6.
The one flaw with the film for me, would have been the occasional less than realistic actions by the characters, compounded by their unconvincing performances. Chen Chang is a talented Taiwanese actor that has appeared in such noteworthy films as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragons, 2046, and the Go Master. He doesn’t speak at all in “Breath”, which is OK with me, but I did expect more presence from such an imposing silent figure. While were on the subject of his performance, what was with all the silly patty cake face slaps he gave to his cellmates? You would think a convicted murderer on death row would have more bite, especially if he could stab himself in the neck with a pick. Ji-a Park, who played the housewife, has an unusual face for a Korean actress which worked in her favor and probably landed her the role in the first place. With that said there were moments where I wasn’t convinced with her performance – in particular the singing and dancing scenes in the prison. The husband (Jung-woo Ha), gave the most surprisingly uninspiring performance of the lot – he was much better in Kim’s “Time”.
When it’s all said and done one thing does become startling clear when you watch “Breath”. The “vision” that Ki-duk Kim possesses is truly impressive and seemingly held by no limits. Occasionally this does result in Kim glossing over smaller details to arrive at the big picture. The end result at times is less realism, connection, and empathy for the characters than what you would normally get in other films. But in return you do really get something different and something to chew on. I can’t wait for Kim’s next film “Bi-mong” and to see how Kim works with bigger name actors like Joe Odagiri and Lee Na-young. Maybe you’ll get less “forced” scenes and more realism with those actors. Regardless, “Breath” is a gripping film that you should check out if possible.
Cast:
Chen Chang – Jang Jin
Jung-woo Ha – Husband
Ji-a Park – Yeon
Ki-duk Kim – Warden
If you like this movie you may enjoy: Big Bang Love Juvenile, Woman on the Beach
![[del.icio.us]](http://images.del.icio.us/static/img/delicious.small.gif){kind=small}
2007 Movie Reviews, Korean Movies, Movie Reviews |