The Air I Breathe

“The Air I Breathe” was released January 25, 2008 and was mostly negatively reviewed in the US. Outside the US the movie was generally favorably received. It was released on DVD May 27, 2008.

The movie flows from a Chinese proverb about the four categories of life: happiness, pleasure, sorrow, and love. There are four vignettes, one for each category, and the characters are intertwined from story to story with Andy Garcia’s character, Fingers, present in all four. Forrest Whitaker stars in the happiness story, where he overhears a racing tip. He bets and loses, then robs a bank to pay up and is killed.

The pleasure segment stars a man who works for Fingers, Brendan Fraser, as someone who can see the future of the people he meets. The ability prevents him from enjoying even the small surprises in life. He can see the future of everyone except that of Sarah Michelle Gellar, who stars in the sorrow segment. She is a stage performer whose manager gives her contract to Fingers as debt payment. Fraser helps her escape from Fingers by letting her hide in his house.

In the final tale, love, Kevin Bacon plays a doctor who is in love with a woman who is bitten by a poisonous snake. She has a very rare blood type, which Gellar also has. Gellar arrives at the hospital with injuries from attempting to escape Fingers. Bacon saves her and she provides the blood he needs for the transfusion.

Because Fingers is the unifying character, the movie has a gangster feel.