Breathe In (2013)

Nice effects though.

Great Film overall

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

At one point, the young foreign visitor asks the dad whether he screwed up his chance at a happy fulfilling life. Given the chance, in all honesty each of the main characters would have had the same answer.I wonder if the director mightn't say the same about his ending. Wikipedia has no doubt, claiming a visible scar on the daughter's face, I saw no such sign of earlier damage, opening a wholly different interpretation of the ending. So which is it: the family deciding to soldier on despite its grave wounds, showing a brave false face of happiness to the camera or something more enigmatic?P.S. Thanks to viewing on a dvr, I was able to freeze the action on the very nanosecond thee daughter's eyebrow indeed shows a faint scar. But how about the poor folks watching in a theater?P,S.S. I wasn't able to understand large chunks of dialog. Anyone have hearing/comprehension issues?

I could watch Guy Pearce in anything but didn't finish this. Director kept us from involvement with characters by intrusive camerawork and faltering conversations.

Sometimes I would allow myself to indulge in a film of little popularity and reputation. Yet, most of the time, such an indulgence doesn't disappoint me; Breathe in successfully blows some fresh air into my perspective.The initial welcoming altitude to novel elements in life, which refers to the introduction of Sophie into the Reynolds, is in stark contrast with the resultant frustration of the disruption of life by the very same element. This is built up with care, especially the transformation of the relationship between Sophie and Keith. Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce deserve every acclaim they receive for depicting the characters with such an authenticity. Sophie seems to be so compatible to Keith; they understand each other's music in a way that Keith's family members couldn't. This bothers me as if Keith and his wife are not really in profound understanding of each other, why would they marry? An irony as it may seem, this is justified by the dependence of marriage on fate; one's wife or husband may not necessarily the best match for him or her, but at a certain time in life, such a decision to get engaged appear credulous and justifiable.Family ties with responsibility. I doubt if there's anyone in the family who is not aware of Keith's affection for Sophie, yet they remain in solidarity upon the leaving of Sophie. A notion raised in one of the episodes of Orange is the new black that I'm watching coincides with the point that Breathe in puts across: the greatest fear of human beings is encountering collateral damage; humans would opt for choices that would make the least destruction, not the one in accordance to morality.

Breathe In (2013)An exquisitely written story that belies its simple arc of a plot. On the surface this looks like a story of a married man falling for one of his students—been there done that so many times it might not survive another iteration. But here that basic hook is used to dig rather deeply into the problem of this man's life—not only why he might be tempted into a foolish affair, but why, in a weird way, it isn't (for him) foolish. The first half of this movie plays this out with finesse.The teacher is worked to a delicate balance by Guy Pearce, an ever thoughtful actor who seems perfectly cast. He's a musician who has turned to teaching music to make a living, and he clearly appreciates art and good music, always for the poetic depth it gives him. His wife (Amy Ryan) is superficial to a perfect degree—her interest is collecting cookie jars. And their daughter is a swimming star, cheerful but not a bit deep. Neither of them gives him a bit of what he really needs.So when a foreign exchange high school student—a budding pianist—arrives in their house, an obvious opportunity arises. And I don't mean for some fun or an emotional sidetrip, but for a revival of honest feelings for life. Felicity Jones plays this out with an expected mix of shy expectance and seductive depth.The second half of the movie, unfortunately, lets some of the restraint and delicacy crumble, and the more it descends (or rises, if you like excess) into unlikely extremes, the more it is just a story told for its plot twists. For me that became less interesting, especially because I so much liked the subtle writing in the beginning.The final scene brings home that the point of the movie really is about that pretense of happiness upper middle class (or upper class) families work so hard to keep. To everyone's detriment. There is a lot here to like in an ultimately compromised plot.