Breathe In (2013)

Directed by: Drake Doremus
Country: USA

Movie Review: “Breathe In” comes in the wake of “Like Crazy”, the previous film by helmer Drake Doremus, who also co-wrote together with Ben York Jones. With a direction that didn’t excel, he somehow managed to give something meaningful to a quite common story. When Sophie (Felicity Jones), coming from England, arrives in New York to study music, the Reynolds family welcomed her in their own house; Keith (Guy Pearce), who would be her music teacher, his wife Megan (Amy Ryan), and their daughter Loren (Mackenzie Davis), did everything to make her comfortable in every way. Sophie’s presence, in her simplicity and relaxed way, started to cause a strange effect on Keith, smoothing out his professional pressures. Inevitably, a mutual admiration and curiosity starts to grow between them, but if this wasn’t enough, Sophie also cast her charming spell on Aaron (Matthew Daddario), a schoolmate who Lauren was in love with. The plot's development, despite running slow, has everything in the right place. Things get pretty nasty for the last moments and everything falls apart, leading to irreparable, devastating consequences for all the characters. Well conceived and executed, “Breathe In” didn’t make my day, but I felt like I didn’t waste my time either. And undoubtedly that fact has to do with the brilliant performances, especially by Jones and Pearce, whose moments together, adorned with gentle touches and ethereal piano tunes in the background, created the intimacy needed to make the scenes work appropriately.