Fantastic Fest 2009

Breathless, the directorial debut of South Korean actor Yang Ik-June, is a foul-mouthed drama that delivers an unlikely mix of pathos, brutality and humor. Yang Ik-June plays a gangster named Sang-Hoon Kim. Sang-Hoon is a loose cannon who spends most of his time cracking heads, cursing people and smoking cigarettes. On the surface, Sang-Hoon shows little love for anybody or anything. His tough exterior cracks a little when he is around his little nephew, but his way of showing he cares involves slapping the boy around and calling him a bastard and an idiot. Sang-Hoon eventually meets Yeon-hee Han (Kot-bi Kim), a high-school girl with a dirty mouth and a fearless attitude. The pair quickly develop a dysfunctional relationship, and as the film progresses, it becomes apparent that they are linked in ways that neither of them realize.

 

Breathless tells a familiar story of a tough guy's downfall, but the film goes a step further by connecting the chaos and violence to larger themes. Breathless presents a vision of a society feeding on cycles of violence. Sang-Hoon is abusive and violent. Everywhere he goes, he sees abusive and violent behavior. The violence connects the characters to each other, and drives the narrative.Yang Ik-June turns in a great performance as a completely disagreeable thug whose sole epiphany in life comes too late to save him. The no-frills direction, which makes liberal use of hand-held camera, adds a sense of realism to all the punching, screaming and slapping. A sense of humor pokes through all of the grimness, but it never diminishes the reality that the film intends to convey. Breathless is a risky film that indicates Yang Ik-June's emergence as an important new South Korean filmmaker. (Rodney Perkins)