Keith Reynolds was a rock musician when he was younger but now aspires to be first cellist in a local symphony orchestra in suburban Westchester. That way, he can quit his regular job as a music teacher at the local high school. He's a grim-faced sort of guy who never laughs (nor do any of the other characters in 'Breathe In', a lugubrious melodrama starring Guy Pearce as a wayward musician). He's married to his non-descript wife, Megan and they have a daughter, Lauren, who attends the same high school Keith teaches in.
The Reynolds decide to sponsor a British exchange student, Sophie, for a semester, and right off the bat you can guess where the plot is going. Sophie, only 18 years old, is the prescribed home wrecker. The only question that remains is what kind of home wrecker is she? Perhaps a demon seed who ends up murdering a principal or two in the household? Not quite. We finally find out that Sophie is a near genius pianist who demonstrates her extreme competence, when Keith insists that she introduce herself by playing a classical piece before his high school class.
After that it's a long drag as Keith and Sophie grow closer to each other. Eventually, they find themselves cuddling by a lake in a local park and there's finally one rather chaste kiss. Much to daughter Lauren's chagrin, she spies her errant father canoodling with the sultry exchange student. Since Lauren was also rejected by her first time sex flame, the combination of the two bad actors (daddy and ex-boyfriend) is too much for her to handle. She gets behind the wheel of her car after swigging some alcohol, and gets into a possibly fatal accident as she veers off the road into the woods, to avoid an oncoming truck.
Of course this dark moment at the end of Act 2, occurs precisely around the same time Keith lands the job as principal cellist in the orchestra and is playing for the first time in the big seat. He's also decided to run off with the young Sophie but just as he meets her, he learns of Lauren's accident.
After Megan trashes the house after realizing that Keith has run off, she meets him at the hospital, where she gives him a decidedly negative reception. Fortunately, director Drake Doremus doesn't go as far as to kill off the daughter, and make this a real heavy-handed tragedy. Instead, poor Sophie gets a double dose of bad stares from both Keith and Megan when they return home and her days in America have decisively come to an end.
David Lee Dallas of Slant Magazine perhaps puts it best in his review: "Breathe In masquerades as a sensitive character study, seemingly high-brow because it's so low-key, but underneath that veneer is an inert, thinly plotted melodrama premised on trite characterizations that would be offensive if they weren't so absurd."
Part of Breath In's problem is that most of the dialogue feels like it's improvised. Indeed, director Doremus worked from a 60 page outline and not a full-blown script. After numerous takes, Doremus has been quoted as saying that the actors simply "knew what to say." Some may find that inventive, but I do not.
As Breathe In plods along, one finds oneself mildly interested in how the story resolves itself. But once all is said and done, this earnest little tale of infidelity proves to be ordinary as they come.
The Reynolds decide to sponsor a British exchange student, Sophie, for a semester, and right off the bat you can guess where the plot is going. Sophie, only 18 years old, is the prescribed home wrecker. The only question that remains is what kind of home wrecker is she? Perhaps a demon seed who ends up murdering a principal or two in the household? Not quite. We finally find out that Sophie is a near genius pianist who demonstrates her extreme competence, when Keith insists that she introduce herself by playing a classical piece before his high school class.
After that it's a long drag as Keith and Sophie grow closer to each other. Eventually, they find themselves cuddling by a lake in a local park and there's finally one rather chaste kiss. Much to daughter Lauren's chagrin, she spies her errant father canoodling with the sultry exchange student. Since Lauren was also rejected by her first time sex flame, the combination of the two bad actors (daddy and ex-boyfriend) is too much for her to handle. She gets behind the wheel of her car after swigging some alcohol, and gets into a possibly fatal accident as she veers off the road into the woods, to avoid an oncoming truck.
Of course this dark moment at the end of Act 2, occurs precisely around the same time Keith lands the job as principal cellist in the orchestra and is playing for the first time in the big seat. He's also decided to run off with the young Sophie but just as he meets her, he learns of Lauren's accident.
After Megan trashes the house after realizing that Keith has run off, she meets him at the hospital, where she gives him a decidedly negative reception. Fortunately, director Drake Doremus doesn't go as far as to kill off the daughter, and make this a real heavy-handed tragedy. Instead, poor Sophie gets a double dose of bad stares from both Keith and Megan when they return home and her days in America have decisively come to an end.
David Lee Dallas of Slant Magazine perhaps puts it best in his review: "Breathe In masquerades as a sensitive character study, seemingly high-brow because it's so low-key, but underneath that veneer is an inert, thinly plotted melodrama premised on trite characterizations that would be offensive if they weren't so absurd."
Part of Breath In's problem is that most of the dialogue feels like it's improvised. Indeed, director Doremus worked from a 60 page outline and not a full-blown script. After numerous takes, Doremus has been quoted as saying that the actors simply "knew what to say." Some may find that inventive, but I do not.
As Breathe In plods along, one finds oneself mildly interested in how the story resolves itself. But once all is said and done, this earnest little tale of infidelity proves to be ordinary as they come.