Souffle

Kim ki duk gets his magic from his mysterious characters, and this is another example of that. I cannot guess whats going on in the character's mind and what they will do next.

South Korean author Kim Ki Duk is famous for the manner in which he takes an obscure idea to weave a convincing story around it.He is so good at his craft that even highly improbable ideas are transformed into remarkably good films which not only provide wholesome entertain but also make potent cultural statements about South Korean society.By making such socially relevant films,he reveals what kind of people South Koreans are.This is also the case with Kim Ki Duk's film Soom/Breath.It is a different matter if people start to take to heart the behavior of South Korean people based on his films.This is a film where viewers get to see a frustrated wife wearing her heart on her sleeve.After critically acclaimed "Bin Jip",this is the second film by Kim Ki Duk which talks about a neglected wife with a highly unusual end.A positive thing about this film is that despite initial differences matters are sorted amicably between a bickering couple.Tit for tat seems to be the film's message as Kim Ki Duk suggests that if a man cheats his wife, there are high chances that she would also do the same.

In the old silent movies, captions were needed even as the actors did their best to convey emotions, often (by today's standards) way overdoing it. The actors in "Breath" skillfully convey practically all we need to know about what is going on in their internal lives, without dialogue. There is, in fact dialogue--not a lot, just exactly enough. This is a daring and brilliant film, and, sorry to say, one that doesn't seem to appeal to many people. I find the film quite transparent, but reviewers seem stymied by the odd situation (a woman in a broken marriage goes to visit a stranger on death row to offer him comfort). What is so difficult about this? She feels as if she is dying so she reaches out to someone else who is dying, even before his sentence is carried out. DUH. How she reaches out is quirky; not for a moment did my attention flag. The relationship motif is enhanced by what transpires in the prison cell of the condemned man, which he shares with three other men, one of whom is in love with him. This is not a film for those who want everything laid out for them so that they don't have to participate in elucidating the meaning. However, for those who are willing to put together the few pieces of the puzzle in this spare and gorgeous film, the effort will be rewarding. I found the film deeply touching, painful, beautiful, and haunting.

South Korean author Kim Ki Duk is famous for the manner in which he takes an obscure idea to weave a convincing story around it.He is so good at his craft that even highly improbable ideas are transformed into remarkably good films which not only provide wholesome entertain but also make potent cultural statements about South Korean society.By making such socially relevant films,he reveals what kind of people South Koreans are.This is also the case with Kim Ki Duk's film Soom/Breath.It is a different matter if people start to take to heart the behavior of South Korean people based on his films.This is a film where viewers get to see a frustrated wife wearing her heart on her sleeve.After critically acclaimed "Bin Jip",this is the second film by Kim Ki Duk which talks about a neglected wife with a highly unusual end.A positive thing about this film is that despite initial differences matters are sorted amicably between a bickering couple.Tit for tat seems to be the film's message as Kim Ki Duk suggests that if a man cheats his wife, there are high chances that she would also do the same thing.

In Dancer in The Dark, Lars von Trier told the story of a girl who could create such a vivid interior life that it could soar over any misfortune, even death. In Breath, Director Ki-duk Kim tells the story of a girl who tries to transfer a similarly strong vision to a condemned man on death row.

What do you do to raise your spirits? Listen to a song? Walk through the countryside? Go on holiday somewhere nice? Take any of these things, and they are heightened if love and desire are added.

When I was seventeen, I used to walk five miles every night. Just to hold my sweetheart's hand and kiss her goodnight. Even in winter, I felt as if I were walking on air. Sounds kinda stupid, looking back. Especially as it didn't last. But those miles disappeared in seconds.

Breath opens unremarkably. Jang Jin is on death row and attempts suicide by sharpening a toothbrush and stabbing himself with it. (He's played by Chen Chang, the sexy outlaw suitor to Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.) The incident makes the evening TV news.

Yeon's husband is having an affair. He tells her to get out and meet people instead of staying at home making sculptures. On an impulse, she goes to visit Jang Jin. On a subsequent visit, she decorates the visiting room with blown-up pictures of spring, fills the area with artificial flowers, and sings to him. She wears a summer dress even though it is mid-winter. Yeon's poetry of life has a profound effect on Jang Jin. They fall passionately in love. But trouble brews from Jang Jin's jealous cellmates and Yeon's violent husband.

When Breath started, I admit I found it less than engaging. But suddenly these scenes that Yeon constructs for Jang Jin explode with a powerful emotional force. Have you ever been on one of those simulator machines where you step in and it starts moving about, replicating sensations that match the screen in front of you? It's that sudden. One second you are watching an ordinary prison drama, interspersed with inconsequential domestic stuff. Then Wham! You are suddenly catapulted, knocked sideways, jolted out of your seat. And that, of course, is a pale reflection of the effect we realise it must be having on Jang Jin. We start living for these intense (yet emotionally draining) moments in the film, just as Jang Jin does.

Throughout precisely architectured cinematography, Ki-duk Kim weaves a poetry of life and death. "We are already crazy inmates on death row. Until we can breathe no more." Contrasts between the two protagonists' lives outside the meeting room and what goes on inside are mirrored in verbal contrasts where one person will speak and the other stays mute. Breathing in and breathing out. Locked in a passionate kiss. Or holding one's breath underwater.

Breath also has a bitter edge. Is she preparing him for the moment when he takes his last breath? (South Korea is one of the very few fully developed democracies where the death penalty is still allowed.) Don't expect any nice redemptive ending. Like Dancer in The Dark, Breath mostly gets darker. "Even though I call with sorrow, Only the white snow falls." It may also be too laboured – even artificial – for some audiences.

Breath is an icy, chilling love story. It looks at a bond that goes beyond the simplicities of life and death. And it's as finely chiselled as a piece of sculpture. Some scenes contain a rare combination of animal intensity and poetic tenderness. The whole unfolds as a dazzling testament to the artistry of Ki-duk Kim.