Breathe In

Name: Breathe In
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: March 28, 2014
Duration: 98 min
Rating: 60
Cast: Amy Ryan, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Mackenzie Davis, Matthew Daddario

2014

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 21 Critics

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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6.6

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6.6	Your Score
6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 20 Ratings

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BREATHE IN

Movie Details & Credits

Cohen Media Group | Release Date: March 28, 2014

Starring: Amy Ryan, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Mackenzie Davis, Matthew Daddario

Summary: When a foreign exchange student arrives in a small upstate New York town, she challenges the dynamics of her host family's relationships and alters their lives forever.

Director: Drake Doremus

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 98 min

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Critic Reviews

Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan

Apr 3, 2014

The exquisitely calibrated Breathe In explores such a fraught mutual passion with honesty, intimacy and complete emotional involvement. Read full review

The Guardian - Jeremy Kay

Jun 28, 2013

The story of the ingenue who enters the fold and awakens deep feelings is nothing new, but Doremus makes it all utterly captivating. He mines just the right amount of drama and spontaneous comedy from each moment and the foreshadowing is perfectly weighted. Read full review

Time Out - Cath Clarke

Mar 26, 2014

Swinging it to compelling are irresistible performances from Felicity Jones and Guy Pearce. Read full review

IndieWire - Eric Kohn

Mar 26, 2014

To be fair, Breathe In may hit a lot of familiar beats, but none of them are entirely unwelcome. Read full review

McClatchy-Tribune News Service - Roger Moore

Mar 25, 2014

A romantic melodrama that’s so well-cast and acted and made with such loving care that you could almost forgive how long it takes to get to its obvious conclusion, how melodramatic the whole “sordid” affair is. Read full review

Wall Street Journal - Joe Morgenstern

Apr 3, 2014

Mr. Doremus is an exceptional director of actors; almost every scene in Breathe In comes alive, with or without the help of music. But the film needs more help than it gets from the script, which turns on facile coincidence and dwindles in originality as it moves toward its climax. Next time around, let's hope this gifted filmmaker hangs his characters' lives on stronger dramatic bones. Read full review

Slant Magazine - David Lee Dallas

Mar 24, 2014

Seemingly high-brow because it's so low-key, but underneath that veneer is an inert, thinly plotted melodrama premised on trite characterizations that would be offensive if they weren't so absurd. Read full review

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User Reviews

captaindropkik

May 26, 2014

Agonizingly, purposefully and sadistically slow moving. It's a thin line between dragging something out, and enjoying every moment that you spend with a person. ...I mean a film.
So I totally fell in love with the perfect Sophie, who is essentially my dream girl, but equally fell in loveAgonizingly, purposefully and sadistically slow moving. It's a thin line between dragging something out, and enjoying every moment that you spend with a person. ...I mean a film.
So I totally fell in love with the perfect Sophie, who is essentially my dream girl, but equally fell in love with the flawed human family situation that Keith had going on.
We all have our interpretations of things and I chose to cast aside my inhibitions as I watched, the withheld passion and electricity between the two leads almost set the room on fire each time they were forced to hold themselves apart from one another, and this was as new an experience for me vicariously, as it was for Keith experiencing it. And as a male audience obviously I (definitely wrongly) sided with Keith. I decided it wasn't creepy as the argument of love, passion and an organic bond between soul mates, made it's case so strongly as the characters face's were practically pressed up against the screen in one intimate moment after the next. It was like watching through their windows!
Intimate moments which were stolen away by characters that I've heard people say were "wrongly villainized." I utterly utterly disagree with this.
I'm not the most sympathetic person you'll find but I absolutely wanted the best for each of the players on the board. The entire thing held me with drama and guilt by allowing me to come to my own realisation that this was never going to go well. The lesser characters were dotted around going through the motions carelessly, and at no point did I feel like I was meant to dislike any of them for how they'd affected Keith's life.In a brief moment where Keith lets his regrets slip I would certainly have villainized him, but instead I sympathised more as he struggled monstrously to hold the rest down. The director perfectly utilises natural, subtle expressions to build tension in moments like this, which is certainly not the only example.
But then came the fresh reminder that they are all human. They are weak.
A person can spend their entire life wishing they'd done something else while not necessarily resenting their current situation, when a fresh opportunity comes along. A reset button. And it comes in the shape of a mature, amazing, talented, perfect (for you) human being who simply aches for you, but remains aware of the dangers, because they're also very down to earth!
I knew how it would end from the minute it started, but that reality and also the unique people and situations who constantly defied my expectations and misguided me, allowed my mind and heart to be lifted into the centre of a whirlwind of passion, something I wish fully to experience. Until it carried me back down to reality, kicking and screaming, while I watched helplessly as their collective mistakes set the final tone.
So before I go and say my prayers, that I may never find myself in such a painful, winnerless situation, I pass on a recommendation and a plea.
That you watch this film and take from it something special, for it has truly affected me.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

FlickLover

Jun 18, 2015

"Breathe In" is a purposefully slow burn with deep long breaths. Why anyone would want to hurry this film along is beyond me. I enjoyed the smoldering mutual attraction, the initial looking and not looking, the yearning to touch and be touched without ever acknowledging it. And then, when"Breathe In" is a purposefully slow burn with deep long breaths. Why anyone would want to hurry this film along is beyond me. I enjoyed the smoldering mutual attraction, the initial looking and not looking, the yearning to touch and be touched without ever acknowledging it. And then, when those hidden wants are finally revealed, we're able to exhale for a little while. Of course, reality eventually discovers our main characters in their fantasy land and we're left holding our breath again. Stolen moments can be sweet, but there's a price for stealing.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

annbd

Jul 8, 2018

How intense love between musicians could be and how the connection between them is on a mental level. Musicians feel the world the same way, can talk through music, can understand each other with the help of sounds. Greeeaat. One of my favorite films. :3

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

foxgrove

Mar 31, 2014

This is a slow burn piece that only becomes drama towards the end. Performances are as good as should be expected for this kind of film. However, it is a story that would have been better suited to tv. where its small ambitions would probably have been better served. Not bad, just lacking impact.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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