The Air I Breathe Rating: Popcorn

A fast-paced film, The Air I Breathe interconnects four individual stories as they dramatize the four emotional founders of life: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love.

The Air I Breathe contains a well-known cast that includes Forest Whitaker (The Great Debaters, Vantage Point), Kevin Bacon (Death Sentence, Mystic River), Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge, Southland Tales), Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, Crash), Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer, Into The Wild), Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Thirteen, Smokin’ Aces) and cameo appearance by John Cho (Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, upcoming Star Trek).

Director Jieho Lee weaves the stories together very well and then connects all the pieces at the end. The movie depicts how a small decision can change the fate of others and how four emotions are interconnected.

Director Lee was inspired by The Wizard of Oz, four individuals trying to discover who they are, and an Asian belief that regardless of who we are, we’re all connected by four emotions: love, pleasure, happiness and sorrow.

I have a hard time deciding if The Air I Breathe deserves a Popcorn rating as I find some of the main actors didn’t give their full effort and that the ending could have been improve. Other than these two things, The Air I Breathe is a fairly good movie that I recommend seeing.

The following are a few quotes from the movie that I really liked:

”No emotion, any more than a wave, can long retain its own individual form.“

-Henry Ward Beecher

“Sometimes risking everything is the only chance you have.“

“So, where does change come from and how do we recognize it when it all happens?“

“I’ve always wondered, when a butterfly leaves the safety of its cocoon, does it realize how beautiful it has become? Or does it still just see itself as a caterpillar?“

“But no matter what, the future is written. I can’t change that. And sometimes the things you can change, they end up changing you.“

Release Date: January 25, 2008

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 at 8:17 pm.
by Jean Brunet Categories: Drama, Popcorn, Romance.

2 Comments, Comment or Ping

  1. bbrian017

    This looks pretty decnet. Nice quotes man! I like this one a lot,

    “But no matter what, the future is written. I can’t change that. And sometimes the things you can change, they end up changing you.“

    Nice line!

    Jun 2nd, 2008

  2. Jaden @ Screenwriting for Hollywood

    Nice coverage. Interesting film concept.

    Jun 2nd, 2008

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