L'ombra del passato

As "A Mouthful of Air" (2021 release; 106 min.) opens, we are introduced to Julie, a young mother who has a beautiful baby boy and an adoring husband. Yet something isn't quite alright as she seems to struggle taking care of the baby. Soon she spins out of control, and she has suicidal thoughts... At this point we are less than 10 min into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this film is truly a labor of love from Amy Koppelman, who adapts her novel of the same name into a movie. Koppelman is the movie's writer, producer and director (making her feature length debut). I haven't read the book so I can't comment how closely the film sticks to the book. Watching the film as a standalone, I was gripped from the beginning and it didn't take me long to be emotionally invested in the main characters. The movie benefits tremendously by the lead performance from Amanda Seyfried as Julie, in what is one of her best movie roles to date, period. Amy Irvin is a surprise (in the best possible way) as Julie's mom. Paul Giamatti also is quite good as Julie's doctor. The movie is plot-heavy so I can't really comment on how it all plays out. I will say this: this movie flew by in no time (for me anyway). Last but not least: kudos for the somber piano-fronted original score, courtesy of composer John Gürtler, whom I had not heard of before.

"A Mouthful of Air" was filmed 2 years ago and would've been released in 2020, but for a little thing called COVID-19. The movie finally was released in select theater this weekend, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday early evening screening where I saw this at my art-house theater here in Cincinnati was not attended well: exactly 3 people (including myself). Regardless, if you are in the mood for a heavy-duty postpartum depression family drama featuring a powerful Amanda Seyfried, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater (while you still can), on Amazon Instant Video, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

It's not an emotional roller coaster, just a steady cruise down in the dumps. If you don't like sad movies then this one definitely isn't for you, because when it gets depressing it stays that way and when you think it's gonna get better it doesn't. I think it's beautiful in a melancholic way because things don't always end well and these things happen so it'd be disingenuous if every movie or story you read suggests otherwise and they live happily ever after. Only thing close to a fault the movie had for me is Julie's character is only explored surface level but I think if she wasn't it might've made the movie a little too upsetting to watch for people affected by or going through something similar.

It is so hard to write a spoiler free review for this, as you literally just notice the brilliance of this movie, when its in the last 10seconds!

I will say, the fact how it plays with time, anticipation, expectation and delivery, is simply sooo well done, that you probably can see it twice and still appreciate how well done it is.

The fact that Alysia Reiner and Jennifer Carpenter have such big names, but only appear in the movie for a couple of minutes, if even, is completely ok, even though unexpected AND it just shows you how captivating Amanda Seyfried can be in this, best performance of her career by a landslide.

This movie delivers exactly what "C'mon C'mon" failed to do, it engages you fully into the emotional rollercoaster that movie is. Not for the faint hearted, as it for sure is a sensitive topic, but if you do a movie about this so well, you just have to acknowledge it!

Theme itself as expected as stated in the beginning of the movie. Similar theme movie or mental illness had been seen so many time but this one totally done a excellent job. Amanda acts so well but just miss a big award, this might not make her winner but she already the best actress in my head. For the storyline, it is not anything dramatic but probably the very truth side of what postpartum depression is. Things look normal from the outside but in depth it's not ok... it's very sad after watching but bring awareness to stay alert of this illness.

Good emotional movie with a stellar central performance from Amanda Seyfried. A great supporting cast with turns from Paul Giamatti & Amy Irving this film is only let down by a less than coherent story thread as it bounces between timelines for no apparent reason. Also found it weird that Britt Robertson turns up at the end of the movie in an important but non speaking role. It's very odd and makes me wonder whether they planned to do more with her and changed course at some point in production.