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The Air I Breathe

Play trailer Poster for The Air I Breathe R 2008 1h 37m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
11% Tomatometer 38 Reviews 61% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Four stories are linked by a Chinese proverb and overlapping characters. A usually unadventurous man (Forest Whitaker) loses big on a horse race and robs a bank to pay off a gangster (Andy Garcia). The gangster's nephew goes on the town with a hit man (Brendan Fraser) who can see into the future. The hit man falls for a pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) whose contract is owned by the gangster. The pop star has a rare blood type sought by a doctor (Kevin Bacon) trying to save the love of his life.

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The Air I Breathe

The Air I Breathe

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Critics Consensus

The Air I Breathe is a jumbled indie production that accomplishes little save for the squandering of a talented cast.

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Critics Reviews

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Catherine Shoard Daily Telegraph (UK) 05/01/2020
Pretentious at best, risible for the rest of the time, this is most notable for Andy Garcia's staggeringly hammy cameo as the opera-loving moneylender Fingers. Go to Full Review
Time Out Staff Time Out 04/30/2020
1/5
This pompous, concept-driven debut from American director Jieho Lee is about as hollow and doom-harbouring as an empty coffin. Go to Full Review
Philip French Guardian 04/30/2020
The Air I Breathe is a poor addition to a cycle of movies in which a succession of people (played by well-known actors) is linked by coincidence or perverse destiny. Go to Full Review
Ray DeRousse What Culture 05/01/2020
The story has no emotional heft or philosophical investment upon which to base its contortions. Instead, it is a gimmick looking for a purpose. Go to Full Review
Jamie Russell Radio Times 04/30/2020
2/5
Music-video director-turned-film-maker Jieho Lee imbues his feature debut with plenty of visual verve, yet can't make his stories individually distinctive. Go to Full Review
Allan Hunter Daily Express (UK) 04/30/2020
2/5
Any ensemble piece divided into chapters such as Happiness, Pleasure and Sorrow is already flirting with pretentiousness but Jieho Lee's overblown feature embraces the concept wholeheartedly with clunky dialogue and po-faced solemnity. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Matthew D @OceanSage 2d A really fascinating, original crime narrative with 4 interconnected stories. Korean-American director Jieho Lee’s arthouse neo-noir crime drama anthology The Air I Breathe (2007) is absolutely enthralling. I was thinking about random chance versus fate and how it affects people’s lives. Brendan Fraser is awesome, sweet, and thoughtful as Pleasure, who can see the future. I love the romance drama between him and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Sorrow. Sarah Michelle Gellar is gorgeous and very moving as the popstar Trista, who is the human metaphor for Sorrow in the movie. Gellar’s makeup makes her look like Avril Lavigne here, while Trista’s pains are eerily similar to what Britney Spears had to endure. Forest Whitaker is wonderful as Happiness, who makes an unfortunate horse bet and goes into debt with Andy Garcia’s ruthless mob boss Fingers. Kevin Bacon is fabulous as the kind doctor Love, who loves Julie Delpy’s pretty researcher Gina. She’s so stunning here. See more Gi S @Gistevenn Mar 17 Good acting cast, good story, it seems every movie that i like is panned by the critics ha. See more Stephen C @bob25009 Jul 23 Success in 1 hour and 37 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rated R for Violence, Some Sexual Content/Nudity and Language!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The USA grossed over $19,500.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See more Stoner J @Stoner Jul 17 Critically, unfairly maligned. Overall, this is a well acted, super interesting tale of intersecting stories that never gets boring and is surprisingly heart felt at the same time. See more Georgan G @RT98616417 05/30/2024 This intiguing film watches a small cast of characters intermingle. Great actors show their lives overlapping. The mystery of how life evolves for us all, is broached. Made me think about my life & how I got to where I am. See more tovangar T @RT10995558 06/19/2023 Fraser, Bacon and Delpy were thrown away by the director, leaving the other three main cast members to chew the scenery in the most unattractive way possible. Garcia was stuck in a permanent hissy fit. Whitaker was a knot of sweating, grimacing anxiety Geller, at her most unsympathetic and wooden, ends up imitating a hood ornament, outlined against the dawn, complete with many yards of flowing fabric. Laughably pretentious. Unbelievable that this was made. Somebody lost their shirt or just needed a tax write off. But I watched it. The things I do for Brendan. He looked good. Pretty darn good. See more Read all reviews
The Air I Breathe

My Rating

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Movie Info

Synopsis Four stories are linked by a Chinese proverb and overlapping characters. A usually unadventurous man (Forest Whitaker) loses big on a horse race and robs a bank to pay off a gangster (Andy Garcia). The gangster's nephew goes on the town with a hit man (Brendan Fraser) who can see into the future. The hit man falls for a pop star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) whose contract is owned by the gangster. The pop star has a rare blood type sought by a doctor (Kevin Bacon) trying to save the love of his life.
Director
Jieho Lee
Producer
Emilio Diez Barroso, Darlene Caamano Loquet, Paul Schiff
Screenwriter
Jieho Lee, Bob DeRosa
Distributor
ThinkFilm
Production Co
Nala Films, Paul Schiff Productions
Rating
R (Violence|Some Sexual Content/Nudity|Language)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 25, 2008, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 10, 2019
Box Office (Gross USA)
$19.5K
Runtime
1h 37m