Breathless – Review

Editors Note: This film has only received a Korean DVD release and is not readily available in North America. The only way I know of watching this film without stooping to morally dubious means (Pirates ahoy) is through an online database called Mubi. It costs $3 and is well worth it in my books: http://mubi.com/films/3570

I first saw this film at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) in 2009, I had just moved to Vancouver and this was my first year attending the festival. I saw many films, some being quite sub par, but Breathless is the first and only film I have seen at a festival that I have championed relentlessly. Did anyone heed my word and go? Only one friend, but I have a feeling it was out of equal parts remorse and fear as I’m about half-sure I was rabidly foaming at the mouth. That being said, I absolutely adore this film and since it has been a year since my previous two viewings and now I have finally been able to view it again (Viva la Internet!), I can step back and fairly say that this film is a masterpiece.

Yang Ik-Joon makes his directing and writing debut as Sang-Hoon, a foul mouthed debt collector who seems to fit his job like a glove. He’s abrasive and mean to everyone around him whether or not it is his boss/best friend, co-workers or sister, his emotions have only one option and that’s hostility. In the opening scene, a pimp is beating up a prostitute in the middle of the street, Sang-Hoon walks up and begins to beat the pimp relentlessly. Typically this action would be seen as that of a hero or at least a man with a heart of gold, but then he kneels down beside the prostitute and proceeds to spit in her face, slapping her multiple times all the while asking her “why do you take it?”. He seems to finally relax and be a different person with his young nephew, but then he’ll still call his nephew a “dumb bastard” and give him a small slap, even his love is laced with hatred. His life begins to change when he meets an equally hardened high school girl named Yuen-Hue (This first encounter is one of the more surprising and funny moments in the film), and the two begin to develop a friendship. The film begins to reveal that their lives very much echo each others, both with shattered family lives, and begins to slowly expose the wounds in each others souls.

The interesting thing about this film is that despite its extremely violent, offensive nature and the plot at a glance resembling a typical by the book sort of ‘friendship heals all wounds’ sort of tale, it manages to stay fresh with its incredible amount of heart. That being said, it doesn’t sugar coat anything as this is a very violent, realistic, grim viewing of family life with abusive parental figures and the effects it has on children. This film is absolutely relentless in its depictions of violence, over and over again you will see people getting beaten up and it does a very nice job of immersing you into this lifestyle. The only thing as relentless as the violence is the profanity, I would estimate around 30-40 uses of the ‘c word’ alone. Fans of profanity, rejoice. Fans of non-cussing, I guess you can sigh in bewilderment (Fornicate me? How rude!). This film is brilliant in how it slowly exposes the logic and perceptions of its characters, we understand how people come to judge these characters so clearly because we ourselves have our opinions change changed consistently over the course of the film.

The acting is damned good all around as well, Yang Ik-Joon brilliantly portrays a shattered man with troubled emotions who can’t find it in himself to love another human being. It feels like this is a very personal film to him, as though he has been there and done that. He guides this character away from what could have uninteresting scum to a rather realistic, poignant tragic figure. Kot-bi Kim is also damn good, effortlessly bringing to life someone who we very much believe can go toe-to-toe with Sang’s rough mannerisms as well as having a profound effect on Sang’s life. The camerawork is equally up to the task of capturing the rough nature of this world with a very appealing, cagey aesthetic. At one point I thought this film would be absolutely flawless, but then it finishes with one of the most pointless, unsubtle shots I have ever seen in a film. You can almost here a voice going “Hey, did you get it? Yeah? It’s pretty blatant! You know what, just in case you missed it, how about this extra shot?”. Yang Ik-Joon shows his worth as a triple threat here as he really delivers with this film. I can not believe that not only did he not have major acting roles before, but that this is his first film both writing and directing. I am astounded by his talent and can not wait for whatever he does next as he has already delivered a first try masterpiece and I’m absolutely dreaming for this to be the first in a long run of classics.