The air you breathe is basically your life and the transition of it. This movie is about people looking at their lives and wanting to change them. It is the moment of change. It is the butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It is cyclical. It is constant. It is like breathing.
The director of this film Jieho Lee once said in an interview, "You cannot love without knowing pleasure, have sorrow without knowing happiness. You need to know all of them to know one, and that balance came out." That is the basic of this film.
The first story to happen is Pleasure's. Then it passes into Sorrow's, and her story and Happiness' coincide. The both go over several weeks. When Happiness bets the money and loses it, and Pleasure gives him the gun in his apartment, Sorrow is at staying with Pleasure. When Happiness is robbing the bank, you can clearly see that he has grown more facial hair, which tells you weeks have gone by. By then Fingers has gotten hold of Sorrow, organized her tour, and we find out that hers and Pleasure's baby is a few weeks old. The important part of Love's story (which has the shortest timeline) happens just before Happiness robs the bank and throws down the money, which Sorrow then finds and gives her means to escape.
Pleasure probably saw the future of Happiness and knew of his quest to obtain happiness. By giving him the gun, he was encouraging him to make the breakthrough from the perceived cycle of work. Also, before he gave him the gun, it is interesting to note that he asked him repeatedly at point blank range, why he bet everything on the horse race. Also, given the timeline of the movie, Pleasure had probably at some point seen (in the future) that by giving Happiness the gun, it would eventually lead to Sorrow getting the stolen money, which would allow her to escape. At the time he gave him the gun, his abilities has ceased though, which is why he replied, "I don't know anymore", when Happiness asked him, why he gives him the gun.
He had finally obtained freedom by breaking the cycle which he described himself at the beginning of the movie: study, more study and work. Additional notes: It was at this point, that he suddenly realized he was finally free. It is made reference to in the opening line, when he questioned whether the caterpillar knows that it has become beautiful upon leaving its cocoon.
These two characters were actually the opposite of the emotion they portrayed. It was about their journey to experience that emotion. It was more along the lines that you can't truly experience those emotions without experiencing its counterpart. Happiness shows this emotion for the first time, when he breaks out of his normal lifestyle. Pleasure experiences something close to the emotion, when the character no longer knows if the premonitions he is having are 100% true.
No one could get help because Fingers had control over the police department as well. This is insinuated when Pleasure is walking down the side walk getting money for Fingers and two officers see him, but drive off.
Pleasure was reaching out for pepper spray.
Yes, and it's true that it's very rare. More about it can be found out here.
Sorrow had no money to escape with. Her manager Frank had cleared out all of her accounts to try and pay back Fingers.
She got the blanket from the hospital itself. You can see this when she is lying down in the first scene with her being a patient at the hospital.
No, this film had the correct four emotions. However, Fingers does pretty much represent the emotion Anger.
The musical score was done by Marcelo Zarvos.
It was filmed in Mexico City.
It was a independent film so they didn't have a lot of money for promotion.The plan was for it to get what they call a "platform release." Open it in a few theaters then the following week a few more and the following week a few more. However people didn't go the first week, possibly because of the bad reviews it got, and the distributor decided to pull it out of theaters that week.
The movie itself got many mixed reviews, however all the actors got great reviews.
Some positive reviews included
"Electric...a Brilliant ensemble piece." –Paste Magazine
"Ingenious!" –The New York Times
"Solid perfomances by Forest Whitaker, Emile Hirsch, and Sarah Michelle Gellar!" –New York Magazine
And Some Negatives were
"14% on Rotten Tomatoes"
"D-" –Entertainment Weekly
Some positive reviews included
"Electric...a Brilliant ensemble piece." –Paste Magazine
"Ingenious!" –The New York Times
"Solid perfomances by Forest Whitaker, Emile Hirsch, and Sarah Michelle Gellar!" –New York Magazine
And Some Negatives were
"14% on Rotten Tomatoes"
"D-" –Entertainment Weekly
The following films all have a similar feel to The Air I Breathe.
Short Cuts (1993) (1993),
Pulp Fiction (1994) (1994),
Lone Star (1996) (1996),
Magnolia (1999) (1999),
Memento (2000) (2000),
Amores Perros (2000) (2000),
21 Grams (2003) (2003),
11:14 (2003) (2003),
Intermission (2003) (2003),
Crash (2004) (2004),
Babel (2006) (2006),
Vantage Point (2008) (2008),
Crossing Over (2009) (2009),
Powder Blue (2009) (2009)
Short Cuts (1993) (1993),
Pulp Fiction (1994) (1994),
Lone Star (1996) (1996),
Magnolia (1999) (1999),
Memento (2000) (2000),
Amores Perros (2000) (2000),
21 Grams (2003) (2003),
11:14 (2003) (2003),
Intermission (2003) (2003),
Crash (2004) (2004),
Babel (2006) (2006),
Vantage Point (2008) (2008),
Crossing Over (2009) (2009),
Powder Blue (2009) (2009)
Powered by Alexa
- How long is The Air I Breathe?1 hour and 35 minutes
- When was The Air I Breathe released?April 29, 2007
- What is the IMDb rating of The Air I Breathe?6.7 out of 10
- Who stars in The Air I Breathe?
- Who wrote The Air I Breathe?Jieho Lee and Bob DeRosa
- Who directed The Air I Breathe?
- Who was the composer for The Air I Breathe?
- Who was the producer of The Air I Breathe?
- Who was the executive producer of The Air I Breathe?
- Who was the cinematographer for The Air I Breathe?
- Who was the editor of The Air I Breathe?
- Who are the characters in The Air I Breathe?Love, Gina, Pleasure, Fingers, Sorrow, Tony, Happiness, Jiyoung, Danny, Sorrow's Father, and others
- What is the plot of The Air I Breathe?A drama based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. A businessman bets his life on a horse race; a gangster sees the future; a pop star falls prey to a crime boss; a doctor must save the love of his life.
- What was the budget for The Air I Breathe?$10 million
- How much did The Air I Breathe earn at the worldwide box office?$2.6 million
- How much did The Air I Breathe earn at the US box office?$25,800
- What is The Air I Breathe rated?R
- What genre is The Air I Breathe?Crime Drama, Crime, Drama, and Thriller
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content