Good morning everyone, and welcome to the final day of the 10th annual Calgary International Film Festival. Today is the day to catch encores of some the fantastic films you have missed over the 10 days, and escape Calgary's early taste of what promises to be yet another cold and snowy winter. Last night I had the privilege of seeing a fantastic Koren film entitled Breathless, and I enjoyed it so much I had to blog about it. (I promise I'll refrain from any bad jokes about how it "took my breath away"...)
Never in my life can I say I had the opportunity to reach subtitles as "colorful" as I did throughout this film. I left the theater last night certain that I had mastered a number of Korean profanities after hearing them spoken so often onscreen. This being said, this was in no way a deterrent.. I mean come on, this was a movie about a gangster.
The colorful language was probably the only feature Breathless had in common with it's Western gangster movie counterparts, and this is largely why I enjoyed the film so much. Breathless is both multifaceted and cutting edge. It is raw, it is authentic, and there is nothing glamorized about it. The movie stars the incredibly talented Yang Ik-June (he also just so happens to be the film's director) as Sang-Hoon, a damaged man who is haunted by his violent past and turns to the gangster life as some form of release from his anger and self-loathing.
On his way home one day he meets a high school girl named Han Yeon-Heui, the first person he has met in a long time who will stand up to him and doesn't shy away from his hostile demeanor. The film follows the progression of their unusual,yet captivating relationship as Yeon-Heui helps Sang-Hoon let go of some of the anger that he has held onto for so long, and he helps her escape from her tumultuous and violent family life.
Breathless is a captivating look into the cycle of domestic violence juxtaposed against the breathtaking backdrop of the South Korean landscape, and is one of the most memorable films I've seen over the course of the festival.
If you missed the screening last night, there is an encore playing at the Globe at 6:45pm tonight. Trust me, you don't want to miss it.
