Cast: Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Forest Whitaker
Director: Jieho Lee
Producers: Paul Schiff, Emilio Diez Barroso, Darlene Caamano Loquet
Screenwriters: Jieho Lee, Bob DeRosa
Music: Marcelo Zarvos
Editor: Robert Hoffman
Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Romance
Running Time: 97 min.
Cinematography: Walt Distributor: Viva Productions, Inc.
Location: Mexico
Technical Assessment: * * *
Moral Assessment: ● ●
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 18 and above
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The film is reportedly based on an ancient Chinese proverb that identifies four emotional cornerstones as the composite elements of human existence: Happiness, Pleasure, Sorrow, and Love. The major characters in the film personify each of these elements. Only Sorrow has a stage name, Trista; she whispers her real name later to the dying Pleasure. A cinematic semblance of a morality play, The Air I Breathe is preachy and allegorizes the powerful and destructive grip of Fingers (Andy Garcia), a criminal don, on the lives of Happiness (Forest Whitaker), Pleasure (Brendan Fraser), and Sorrow (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in contrast to the saving power of Love (Kevin Bacon). While flashbacks provide the context of the personae, the voice-over expresses their thoughts and insights. If names define the persons, one can easily understand why and how Fingers, Sorrow, and Love are so-named; it is difficult to see why two characters are called Happiness and Pleasure (except for one brief moment of pleasure, perhaps). The splendid performance of the cast makes up for some loose ends in the plot. Some scenes are contrived, seemingly a deus ex machina resolution to problematic situations.
Since the film is didactic, it imparts many lessons, both good and bad. Excessive greed is the nemesis of Happiness and he realizes his mistake too late: “I was stupid. I wasn’t thinking”. He pays for this mistake with his life. Fingers, the lord in a world of gambling, violence, and whoring, also has excessive greed for power and wealth but nowhere do we see in him remorse or retribution. Something tragic is bound to happen when Pleasure meets Sorrow and yet the encounter has deepened and enriched both of them. With these hapless creatures, one wishes that something right could happen to their lives. Could a bundle of money dropping from the sky hold the key to a second chance for Sorrow? One has to move on even if it’s hard starting over. But in the end, let us believe that “Love is stronger than death” for the hope that love brings is transforming and redeeming.