Breath

Read a lot of positive reviews regarding this movie, which is why my wife and I gave it a go and we were not disappointed. It's a coming of age drama two teenage boys take an interest in surfing and are coached by an experienced older man. The acting and direction were very good but I must mention the cinematography which was outstanding Australia is a beautiful country and the movie took full of advantage of this.

This is an enjoyable film and takes your thoughts away from the current world situation.

My wife and I both scored this a seven and recommend this movie.

Loved it. Having grown up in Western Australia in the 70's I loved every bit of this movie. Every bit that I could relate to that is. The feeling of being dumped in the surf, the chopper style pushies with banana seats, the poppity clatter of an old Kombie motor, the sandy WA bush, slipping on the rocks, the feeling of going up and over a wave just before it breaks, the rush of catching a wave, dancing badly at the school social, suntanned young skin, holding a girls hand, getting up at dawn to go surfing.. and of course, holding my breath under water just that bit too long. Couldn't help but not relate to avocado's in WA in the 70's.. I don't ever remember them.. and I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to WA number plates.. the Kombi had black plates with white characters. The number format was right, even the first letter U was authentic, but sorry I don't ever recall black background with white letters.

I grew up in the South West of Western Australia where this was filmed. I could relate well to the material and clearly Simon Baker has a love for the material as well. This is essentially a 'coming of age' movie.

I read each new Tim Winton book as they come out. He's one of Australia's best writers and his work is certainly the most authentic Australiana. So, even though I've admired Simon Baker's work for many years, I worried that the film would be hard-pressed to match the quality of the written story. The anxiety was wasted; Breath the movie is a superb rendering of the book, managing to capture the moods, emotions, fears love and the allure of surfing in an understated and intimate way, even while omitting sections of the book, which was a complex 215 pages, and redirecting the thrust of the novel. At almost two hours, it's paced in a tempo that matches the period, the people and the lifestyle and flows past like the beautiful waves at Barney's. The young actors are brilliant but congratulations to all concerned because so is the film.

A coming of age novel, for years this book languished on my bookshelves in spite of the exhortations from my daughter to read it. In expectation of seeing the film, I read it over a weekend and was captivated although wasn't a fan of Tim Winton before I read "Breath". The film is faithful to the book apart from the sanitizing of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Spoiler alert so I won't say any more. The film is masterful: Simon Baker's direction and his performance as Sando is believable and superlative; the young men playing Pikelet and Loonie are superb; the cinematography is beyond belief. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Debicki lets the side down. Looking like a younger, blonde version of Cher, she is barely audible or intelligible. Nonetheless this is a stunning contribution to the Australian film industry's history. Four stars.