Breathless

Breathless

Sang-Hoon is a git. He's quite happy to gob on schoolgirls, shout constant abuse, and doesn't think twice about beating on anyone he takes a dislike to. And he doesn't like many people. Within moments of Breathless starting Sang-Hoon has bitch-slapped a guy beating his girlfriend, then dished out the same treatment to the girl whilst chiding her for taking the abuse from her man. Don't think you'll escape this treatment by being his family or a friend. He's more than happy to while away an evening calling relatives cunts, beating up his Dad or slapping his colleagues about. He's a right piece of work.

That said, you kind of warm to him. Although this rent-a-thug has a vocabulary that would make Roger Mellie blush and takes a two fisted view of anyone who stands in his way, he's capable of great compassion. First time director Yang Ik-June, who also wrote, produced and stars as Sang-Hoon, is careful to invest large amounts of humanity into his creations. The wild, flailing, outbursts of Sang-Hoon are mirrored by a more focussed aggression in the form of Yeon-Hee, a high school girl he befriends under unusual circumstances. Her refusal to take his crap earns his begrudging respect and the two embark upon a fraught and uneasy healing process.

Breathless isn't a horror film by traditional standards, but it is extremely horrific in many ways. The constant level of abuse dished out, both physically and emotionally, is enormously painful to watch, especially as you begin to realise this is the only way the characters are able to communicate the pain they feel. An awful cycle of torment has been set in motion, leaving people unable to understand or express what they've gone through in any way other than to repeat the violence. If, as many academics will have you believe, all horror is about "the return of the repressed", Breathless is horror at its most intrinsic.

While much of what occurs in the film is exceptionally bleak, there are glimmers of light the characters strive towards. Yeon-Hee's tragic past mirrors Sang-Hoon's so closely, yet she refuses to sink to the levels of depression and anger he has reached. Through her, he starts to realise that verbal and physical torture are not a replacement for expressing feelings and glimpses a path he never thought open to him. Most of all, he sees hope in the form of his young nephew. He selflessly attempts to provide a better future for the youngster, refusing to let the boy turn out like he did. As he moves from being detached and uncomfortable around his relatives, Sang-Hoon gradually learns to take responsibility and joy in the moments of innocent childlike fun his own upbringing lacked.

This counterpoint of potential optimism is what lifts Breathless above so many films and places it alongside some of the most interesting Korean cinema of recent years. While comparisons with Oasis, No Blood No Tears and Old Boy are both apt and obvious, the movie also shares a great deal with the British classic Nil By Mouth. Both films depict the agony of families torn apart by emotional crises and the devastation wrought when such things go unresolved. Both, in their own way, offer the potential for reconciliation despite admitting the road there is painful and treacherous.

This is one of the most vital and important parts of Breathless; the admission that out of all the tragedy, pain and sadness can come healing - but at a cost. The climactic scenes of the movie, switching between images of great distress and great optimism, deliver an emotional knock-out blow before a final image underlines all the potential for hope and potential for loss. It's a beautifully constructed movie and amazingly accomplished for a first time feature director.

While I'd never go as far to call Breathless uplifting, and in many ways it's one of the most depressing films I've seen in years, it urges the viewer towards positivity. "Look", it screams, "Look what happens if you don't deal with this". If you keep the cycle of pain rolling, it just gets faster and more people get caught up in it. Breathless screams its warning until it's blue in the face.

Review by Paul Bird


 
Released by Terracotta Distribution
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