Breathe is a heart pounding thriller set in the future. After Earth is left uninhabitable due to lack of oxygen, a mother Maya (Jennifer Hudson) and her daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis) are forced to live underground, with short trips to the surface only made possible by a coveted state of the art oxygen suit made by Maya’s husband, Darius, whom she presumes to be dead. When a mysterious couple arrives claiming to know Darius and his fate, Maya tentatively agrees to let them into their bunker but these visitors are not who they claim to be ensuing in mother and daughter fighting for survival.
Breathe is a 2024 American science fiction thriller film directed by Stefon Bristol, written by Doug Simon, and starring Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Quvenzhané Wallis, Common, and Sam Worthington. The film is set in a world where oxygen levels on Earth have dropped making it impossible to live on the planet’s surface without specialised equipment. Breathe was released in limited theaters, VOD and digital formats on April 26, 2024.[5]
Film Review for Breathe
The planet has finally conked out; it went not with a boom or a bang, but choking on a last gasp of polluted air. This frighteningly plausible end-of-the-world scenario is probably the most convincing detail in this solidly acted but underwhelming post-apocalyptic thriller. It’s set in 2039, six years after the conk-out; in Brooklyn, one family is miraculously still alive in a bunker built by scientist and survivalist Darius (Common). He spent years planning for the end of the world; everyone thought he was a crackpot, says his teenage daughter Zora (Quvenzhané Wallis). “Too bad he wasn’t.” Handily, her mum is gardener Maya (Jennifer Hudson). So the three of them – along with Darius’s dad – keep healthy on homegrown greens.
The bunker is a fortress and whenever they step outside (to tinker with the solar panels or browse the deserted local bookshop) it’s with an oxygen tank. The rest of the world – all wrecked buildings and crumbling landmarks – is treated to an aggressively apocalyptic sepia tint by cinematographer Felipe Vara de Rey Zora. The family hasn’t seen another soul in three years. And aside from a few mother-daughter tiffs, they appear to be living in near-harmony – after six years being cooped up together.
To be honest, I didn’t really buy it. The script seems so focused on the family’s resilience it never really confronts the horror of surviving, and being alive in a world with no oxygen, where nothing grows. It gives a kind depthlessness to the emotional life of the characters; none of it felt real. Then things hot up when a woman called Tess (Milla Jovovich) shows up with a mean-faced sidekick (Sam Worthington).
Tess claims to have worked with Darius. She wants to come in to see the air purification system. “You can trust me,” she says. Though anyone who’s ever seen a post-apocalyptic movie knows that in desperate times, no one can be trusted. The stand-off that follows is competently done, but not especially thrilling.
Breathe (2024)
Directed by: Stefon Bristol
Starring: Jennifer Hudson, Milla Jovovich, Quvenzhané Wallis, Common, Sam Worthington, Kaliswa Brewster, James Saito, Raúl Castillo, Dan Martin, Sonya Giddings, Kimberly L. Jackson
Screenplay by: Doug Simon
Production Design by: Jeremy Reed
Cinematography by: Felipe Vara de Rey
Film Editing by: Oriana Soddu
Costume Design by: Alisha Silverstein
Set Decoration by: Robert Holtzman, Diana Stoughton
Art Direction by: Kurt Gefke
Music by: Isabella Summers
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for bloody violence and strong language.
Distributed by: Variance Films
Release Date: April 26, 2024
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