The Air I Breathe
| The Air I Breathe | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Jieho Lee |
| Produced by |
Darlene Caamaño Emilio Diez Barroso Paul Schiff |
| Written by |
Jieho Lee Bob DeRosa |
| Starring |
Kevin Bacon Julie Delpy Brendan Fraser Andy Garcia Sarah Michelle Gellar Emile Hirsch Forest Whitaker |
| Music by | Marcelo Zarvos |
| Cinematography | Walt Lloyd |
| Distributed by |
THINKFilm Pathé |
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Release date
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.6 million |
The Air I Breathe is the 2007 directorial film debut of Korean-American filmmaker Jieho Lee, who co-wrote the script with Bob DeRosa. It stars Kevin Bacon, Julie Delpy, Brendan Fraser, Andy Garcia, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Emile Hirsch, and Forest Whitaker. The film was financed by NALA Investments through its production company NALA Films, and was released on January 25, 2008 in the United States.
The concept of the film is based on an ancient Chinese proverb that breaks life down into four emotional cornerstones – Happiness (Whitaker), Pleasure (Fraser), Sorrow (Gellar), and Love (Bacon). The proverb speaks of these emotions, not as isolated fragments of feelings, but as elements that make up the whole of the human existence. Each of the four protagonists is based on one of the four emotions; and like the proverb their paths are inextricably linked to each other, akin to the Fingers (Garcia) of a hand.
None of the four main characters' actual names are mentioned in the whole film, although Gellar's character's stage name, "Trista", is mentioned several times.
Each of the elements of life is portrayed using four different people in the urban streets of Los Angeles, with the gangster Fingers (Garcia) playing the character that intertwines all four individuals.
Forest Whitaker plays a meek bank employee who loves butterflies. He accidentally overhears acquaintances discuss a fixed horse race, and decides to bet $50,000, borrowing from a bookie, Fingers. Unfortunately he loses the bet.
Fingers derives his name from his habit of cutting off the fingers of those who don’t pay back their debts. Fingers threatens Happiness, and Pleasure, Finger's enforcer, visits him to collect, but pities Happiness, so gives him a revolver and leaves. In desperation, Happiness robs the bank. While fleeing, he is slightly hit by a moving vehicle, then escapes to the top of a building. Surrounded, the police order him to drop his gun. He does not comply, throwing the money bag off the roof, and is killed by the police. When he hits the ground his coat is spread out making him look like a butterfly.
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Wikipedia