Breath

" 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.
One another amazing Kim Ki Duk!! I just wish that the film was longer and the story and characters developed even more and deeper. The plot have a lot of potential to become something like "Secret Sunshine" does, but unfortunately "Breath" doesn't reach the that depth. The director's sensibility is one in a million and I am really looking forward to see his future works, as he is master of the senses and visuals now, I really expect that he reaches the depth that deserves his talent. I must admit that the cast for the main roles is amazing, especialy the taiwanese Chen Chang win my hear with his minimalist in-depth acting.
This is very balanced movie, composed like a architectural masterpiece , there is nothing too much in this movie. However, I wish that Kim left more space for irrational wandering of the viewer.

Speaking to reporters Sat Kim Ki-duk said: "The film highlights the lack of communication in Korean society. I have difficulties with that and I wanted to show a different type of cinematic image and to express the inexpressible even if it seems impossible"
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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."