Cuatro vidas

First of all, this film did have problems. There were a lot of flaws, and some of the coincidences seemed stupid and irrelevant, but it does not fail to show emotion. The emotions are all scattered. Not just one person can have one, and I think that is the point of the film. My first time seeing it, i thought it was just a GOOD film. After seeing it over three times, i can really say it is a very great film. The Acting is phenomenal, and Sarah Michelle Gellar gives her best performance to date. She really shows what she is capable of. She portrays the right signs of Sorrow. Andy Garcia was also great. The direction, from a first time director, was really amazing. The were a lot of beautiful scenes, great cinematography. It is a pleasure to watch. Some of the songs played, are kinda cheesy, but those songs go away fast. BUT the score is truly amazing. It totally captures the right feel that the film portrayed. The film should have been longer. It was only 90 minutes, it was very fast paced. They should have shown more screen time with Gellar and Bacon. The rushed feeling has a positive side to it. The film never gets boring. It grabs you completely(and for some people, that is what they want). Yes, the biggest problem is the screenplay, which at times seems silly, some of the dialogue, but the film also has powerful moments and some GREAT dialogue(sort of like the 2004 film Crash). Overall, I have fallen in love with it. It is very underrated, and some of the negative feedback it has received is not worth it. See it, expect flaws, but see it expecting something big, something about human complexity, and you will not be disappointed.

A clumsy clerk (Forest Whitaker) overhears the conversation of three coworkers in the toilet about a fix in a horse race, and bets a large amount. He loses the bet and owes the money to the dangerous and powerful mobster Fingers (Andy Garcia). A gangster (Brendan Fraser) has the ability of foreseeing the future and works for Fingers; he is assigned to collect money for the boss with his troublemaker nephew Tony (Emile Hirsch) and is beat up by a gang. The manager of the pop-star Trista (Sarah Michelle Gellar) loses her contract to Fingers without her agreement and she is threatened by the gangster. A doctor (Kevin Bacon) seeks a blood donor that might have a rare blood type to save the life of his passion (Julie Delpy).

The weird and overrated "The Air that I Breath" uses four tales – named "Happiness", "Pleasure", "Sorrow", "Love" - that entwines characters and situations around the powerful and omnipresent gangster Fingers. The stories are unpleasant and the power of Finger is exaggerated – how could a famous pop-star be intimidated by a criminal the way Trista is? The attraction of this forgettable movie is the non-linear screenplay that hides a poor and boring story and the great cast. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Ar Que Eu Respiro" ("The Air that I Breath")

An incredible little film that shows just how we are all interconnected and part of the universe. When one's wings flutter, it affects all around us, and in ways that can sometimes be very surprising.

The emotions expressed in the film are all emotions that help us understand how we are interconnected. With the exception of Brandon Fraser and Andy Garcia, all the roles in the film were confined to a particular segment. There were some very good actors in small parts in the film.

Fraser was fantastic in a very unemotional role. His first attempts at showing any emotion cost him his life, just as Forest Whitaker's attempt at happiness cost him his.

I really like Whitaker's musing that happiness comes from playing by the rules and doing well in school. The reward for doing well in school is more school and more school, and then you can get a job and start wanting things. Do any of us every attain happiness? Or, as Whitaker, are we stuck in some dead-end job wanting? Kevin Bacon showed how one risks it all for love and gave a superb performance. I just kept wishing that Sorrow (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was that little girl from his past. I bet she was and they just didn't tell us.

A very pleasurable hour and a half.

I read several bad reviews for this film before actually being able to get my hands on a copy, but remained optimistic about it as I sat down to watch it. Thankfully, some people actually possess the ability to sit down and watch a film with an open mind and then form their own opinion, which is exactly what I did.

What I saw was not a pretentious portrayal of "cheap irony" in which the viewer lives in "Gellar's world". What I saw was a creative endeavour to intertwine four strangers through four major emotions, thus showing that through these emotions, everyone is connected - whether or not they are aware of it. This is what sociologists study and discuss everyday.

The script was performed sensationally, by a stellar cast (Brendan Frasier, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Andy Garcia, Kevin Bacon, Forest Whitaker), encompassing a gritty, fast paced storyline, with melancholic overtones. This film is not all about Gellar - she gives a heart wrenching performance as Trista, but the film is dedicated as much to Garcia, Frasier and Bacon as it is to her. Each performance is worth its weight in gold - Garcia is frightening as mafia boss "Fingers", Frasier pulls at your heart with his resignation to the terrible fates of the people around him and Bacon and Whitaker will surely gain your sympathy with the sheer level of their desperation.

The only thing this film is guilty of is invoking emotion and thought from its viewers - and isn't that the reason to watch it in the first place?

overall it's not bad. you could come away with the impression it was a good film but along the way it employs various means in the script that detract significantly from it. in order to further a story line set forth the characters are at times made artificially stupid or forced to make choices that doesn't seem credible. it's always a shame when that's done because it pulls you out of the suspended disbelief somewhat and let's you see it as construct rather than experience it. apropos :). the acting is not a problem and it's a long list of celebs in the cast but it isn't always believable. it's OK but tarnished a bit by those faux pas.