Breath

I grew up in the South West of Western Australia where this was filmed. I could relate well to the material and clearly Simon Baker has a love for the material as well. This is essentially a 'coming of age' movie.

Loved it. Having grown up in Western Australia in the 70's I loved every bit of this movie. Every bit that I could relate to that is. The feeling of being dumped in the surf, the chopper style pushies with banana seats, the poppity clatter of an old Kombie motor, the sandy WA bush, slipping on the rocks, the feeling of going up and over a wave just before it breaks, the rush of catching a wave, dancing badly at the school social, suntanned young skin, holding a girls hand, getting up at dawn to go surfing.. and of course, holding my breath under water just that bit too long. Couldn't help but not relate to avocado's in WA in the 70's.. I don't ever remember them.. and I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to WA number plates.. the Kombi had black plates with white characters. The number format was right, even the first letter U was authentic, but sorry I don't ever recall black background with white letters.

Valiant first directing attempt by Baker. This is worth watching for the scenery of the South coast of Western Australia alone. The surf sequences are also very well put together, and really draw the viewer into the waves and the ocean.

That's about where my praise ends though. Frankly, the film never quite achieves the heights that some reviews claim. Unlike the presentation of the scenery and surfing, the characters are not well drawn out, and struggle to develop any telling depth. The boy coming of age, the crazy mate, the high school girlfriend, the stereotyped parents, the mentor. All of them are frequently used templates by the author (Winton), this feels like the same tale he's told before, just with different characters and setting.

A coming of age novel, for years this book languished on my bookshelves in spite of the exhortations from my daughter to read it. In expectation of seeing the film, I read it over a weekend and was captivated although wasn't a fan of Tim Winton before I read "Breath". The film is faithful to the book apart from the sanitizing of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Spoiler alert so I won't say any more. The film is masterful: Simon Baker's direction and his performance as Sando is believable and superlative; the young men playing Pikelet and Loonie are superb; the cinematography is beyond belief. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Debicki lets the side down. Looking like a younger, blonde version of Cher, she is barely audible or intelligible. Nonetheless this is a stunning contribution to the Australian film industry's history. Four stars.

One other reviewer writes:

"A particularly insipid example is early in the film the two teenagers get around on under-sized kid's BMX bicycles........." If it is the bikes I saw, they are not 'BMXs, they are classic 70s 'Dragsters" , in Australia often Malvern Star or 'Sportsworld' brand, banana seat,sissy-bar, 3 speed Sturmey gears. They actually would have obtained those bikes as authentic 1970s props. They are sort of the cycling equivalent of Pet Rocks.They are not out of place for the boys in film to be riding, I did not trade mine in until I hit 15 or 16yo.