The Air I Breathe Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
A businessman bets his life on a horse race, a gangster sees the future, a pop star falls prey to a crime boss,
and a doctor must save the love of his life. Based on an ancient Chinese proverb, these four overlapping stories
dramatize the four emotional cornerstones of life: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love.
For more about The Air I Breathe and the The Air I Breathe Blu-ray release, see The Air I Breathe Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on June 9, 2008 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.5 out of 5.
Sometimes the things you can't change, they end up changing you.
The Air I Breathe is another one of those movies that feature several seemingly
independent characters and stories that manage to intertwine by the end. The concept is a good
one, and it tends to work, especially for smaller, independent, less-than-glamorous pictures like this
one. Still, I cannot help but feel that the concept is becoming somewhat stale and trite.
Nevertheless, The Air I Breathe mostly works, although after a very strong opening, the
movie faltered, slowed down, and lost a bit of the magical touch that accompanied the Forest
Whitaker segment. Whether I simply found that segment the most entertaining and profound I do
not know, but while the film managed to maintain a solid pace and provide some decent and, at
times, thought-provoking entertainment, I couldn't help but to be a bit let down by the time the
credits rolled.
This was the first and last time Brendan Fraser reviewed a movie on the Internet.
Based on a Chinese proverb concerning the four life elements, namely happiness, pleasure,
sorrow,
and love, The Air I Breathe is the tale of four individuals whose lives are dictated by one
of
these elements. Forest Whittaker (Vantage Point) is
"Happiness," a down-on-his-luck businessman living out the daily grind, waiting for something to
ignite what is a routine and depressing life. When he overhears his co-workers discussing a
sure-bet horse race with 8:1 odds, he wagers $50,000.00, but the race does not turn out as he
hoped.
He is given two weeks to pay off the debt by "Fingers" (Andy Garcia, The Untouchables)
and
must resort to any means necessary to collect the cash, no matter the cost. "Pleasure" is
portrayed
by Brendan Fraser (The Mummy), a
clairvoyant man and a goon working for "Fingers" whose unusual ability is about to let him down
for
the first (and second) time, one resulting in pleasure, the other in pain, but for him, simply
becoming "normal" is pleasure enough. "Sorrow" (Sarah Michelle Gellar, I Know What You Did Last
Summer) is a rising pop star who, as a young girl, witnessed the death of her father,
and now finds herself under the management of "Fingers" and perhaps in love with "Pleasure."
Finally, Kevin Bacon (Flatliners) portrays
"Love," a doctor
and a man whose stated purpose in life is to love someone completely and fully. He must find
someone with a rare blood type to save his college sweetheart who married his roommate. In
the film's short 90 minute runtime, each character will firmly display the characteristics of their
respective elements as well as experience the other three life elements, all coming together
almost as if through destiny.
It's difficult to provide meaningful insight to a film like this because of a plot that is so concise,
precisely played out, and quick to develop that there is no real spot to begin or end a conversation
about the movie without giving it away. Needless to say, the more I thought (and wrote) about
the film the more I realized the finer nuances that were the glue that brought the plot together.
Take, for example, the way in which Sorrow's father is killed, and parallel that to the final shot of
the film. It's not just the superficialities of the story that keep it going; after all, it's easy to spot
why
each character is so named, and how they fit into the grand scheme of the idea. Instead, it is
the
finer points of the movie, some of which may not be picked up on during the first viewing, that
make The Air I Breathe both an intriguing character study and a film, much like Signs, that takes a
look at the cause and effect of the smallest of life's subtleties, the largest and most important of
life's dramas, and the total effect they have on the world around us, both in our lives and in the
lives of others.
It comes as no surprise that the butterfly was chosen as the symbol for the theme of this film.
Like the age-old question that asks if the flapping of a butterfly's wings on one side of the world
can bring about massive change on the other side, The Air I Breathe shows, on a
much smaller scale than natural disaster, but rather on the scale of human disaster, how all
four of the elements -- happiness, pleasure, sorrow, and love -- can bring about one or the other,
maintaining a natural balance throughout life. It's not only the mostly strong plot that kept the
film interesting, but the solid performances by its leads. Forest Whitaker steals the
show; his natural ability as an actor and the charisma he brings to every role he plays, be it in a
standard Hollywood fare flick like Species or in an Oscar-
winning performance as seen in The Last King of Scottland, makes him one of my
favorite actors. Sarah Michelle Gellar displays a range in this film that finally sets her apart from
the spunky Buffy Sommers character, a style of character she also played in Suburban Girl.
Brendan Faser, Andy Garcia, and Kevin Bacon all turn in solid performances as well.
Image Entertainment presents The Air I Breathe on Blu-ray with an adequate 1080p,
2.40:1 high definition transfer. Much of the transfer, especially in the first segment of the film,
has a very nice, realistic, sharp, clean look. I wouldn't call it "cinematic," but
there is a sense of realism in the look of the film, despite some darker sequences, that made this
a fascinating watch. Along with this realism comes fairly high detail; objects appear pleasing to
the eye and realistic, be it a silver lamp on a desk or Andy Garcia's tan colored coat covered in
fuzzies. Film grain is to be found here, especially when
we're looking at the film's darkest scenes. Black levels are generally solid, but the darkest scenes
that exhibit the most grain tend to look slightly gray. Despite the sometimes dreary look of the
picture, colors can be vibrant and healthy; the palette never becomes overblown or dulled, and
everything from blues to whites to darker colors appear fairly natural. Nevertheless, the film's
darkest of scenes do tend to obscure the image and fine details can become lost in the
background, but I would attribute this to the film's lighting scheme rather than a poor transfer.
Perhaps the only major complaint I have with the transfer is that it never "pops" off of the
screen. The director-intended image itself doesn't necessarily lend itself to a Saawaryia-style of
three-dimensionality, but even the brighter, more vibrant scenes are never truly eye-catching
brilliant. Flesh tones appeared to be solid, but several select scenes appeared somewhat soft
around the edges. On the whole, this is a passable Blu-ray transfer that isn't all that memorable
(then again, neither is the visual look of the movie), but this is likely to be the best you'll see
The Air I Breathe look for quite some time.
The Air I Breathe debuts on Blu-ray with a surprisingly effective DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless
soundtrack. The edgy, trendy music heard over the opening credits has a wonderful room-filling
effect. It bleeds into the rears but is decidedly focused in the front and especially in the center
channel. Dialogue seemed to be presented a bit low in volume at times, and I struggled to hear it
on occasion. There is a solid surround presence throughout that is palpable but not obtrusive,
proving to be the perfect mix for this style of movie. The heavy beats of the music following the
horse race in the "Happiness" segment are nearly foundation-rattling in power. There are many
instances where the music becomes a heavy, pulsating, "Techno," percussion-based beat, and all
instances of this style of music sound fantastic throughout this sound mix. A rain shower scene in
"Pleasure" creates a nice, enveloping sound, and a subsequent scene involving an overwhelming
crowd of photographers around "Pleasure" provides a unique listen that just might give the
less-than-famous of us a chance to feel what it must be like to be hounded by the paparazzi. This is
by no
means a top-notch lossless soundtrack, but it's surprisingly effective and efficient and one that plays
very well with the movie's story and visuals.
The Air I Breathe comes to life on Blu-ray with a few worthwhile extras sure to please fans
of the film. A feature-length commentary track with writer/director Jieho Lee, co-writer Bob Derosa,
director of photography Walt Lloyd, and editor Robert Hoffman, is the highlight of the extras.
Director Lee discusses how his Asian heritage and experience living in America influenced the film,
its roots in both the Chinese proverb as well as a nod to the relationship between this film and the
classic The Wizard of Oz begins the discussion before the crew gets into the nitty-gritty
details of the filmmaking process. There is some insight into the film's lighting scheme, set
locations, some real-life situations and ideas that influenced certain segments of the film, and many
other interesting tidbits. I have no doubt that viewers who enjoyed this film will find this track a
worthwhile listen that adds to the overall experience of the film. Four deleted scenes entitled
The Dreams (480p, 1:20), Living in the Present (480p, 1:18), Tony
(480p, 0:41), and The Check-Up (1:47) are included. Concluding the special features is a
series of outtakes (480p, 2:07) and the film's theatrical trailer (480p, 2:29).
Much like Pulp Fiction before it, The Air I Breathe intertwines several seemingly
unrelated stories and brings them all full circle in a satisfying conclusion. Though not nearly as
strong an effort as Pulp Fiction, The Air I Breathe is nevertheless
thought-provoking and a solid entry into this genre. The excitement of the first act did take a toll
on the
remainder of the film in that the final thee acts failed to measure up to the near brilliance of the
first, but that's alright. The end result is still a fine movie, one worth watching, and definitely one
that'll keep you thinking about it and itching to see it again once the credits roll. Image
Entertainment is the little Blu-ray studio that could. They've released another solid Blu-ray package
that shouldn't disappoint too many collectors. With a mostly strong audio and video presentation,
not to mention a few worthwhile supplements, this disc is no slouch, standing toe-to-toe with the
efforts we see in many releases from the major studios. Recommended.
Image Entertainment has announced that they will release 'The Air I Breathe' for Blu-ray on May 6th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Despite having a cast of well-known actors, including Andy Garcia, Kevin Bacon, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, the film failed to ...
