The simple plot at the center of Breath evolves around geologist Lara Winslet (Rachel Daigh), who finds herself trapped in a very deep hole during one of her research trips. In addition to trying to find a way to stay alive and escape from the hole, Lara spends a large amount of the run time reflecting on the relationships in her life, and where they have gone wrong. In particular, she focuses on her connection (or lack thereof) with her daughter, which has suffered as a result of Lara’s obsessive commitment to her job. With no hope of rescue, Lara tries to find a way out on her own and attempt to find meaning and closure in the past experiences she recalls.

In a movie like Breath, the details are crucial, and the details here are severely lacking. Lara is a character who clearly loves her job, perhaps to an unhealthy degree. It causes her to be late to important events for her daughter, such as her birthday party. When Lara talks about what spurred her to want to become a geologist, she recounts a story about how she experienced an earthquake when she was younger. This becomes the lone building block for her staying late and missing out on these events, but it feels like the motivating factor should be bigger than just “she experienced an earthquake once.” If she was chasing something larger, perhaps more life-changing in her work, then it could be understood why she is so consistently late getting home or missing things altogether. As it stands, it’s a little confusing as to why she can’t put more effort into fostering relationships with the people around her. 

When you set up a scenario like the one in Breath, where someone is trapped in a hole with limited resources, you begin to question some of the details that are overlooked or flat-out ignored to maintain suspense. Lara has a cell phone that, while it has no signal, can still be utilized as a GPS to help rescuers locate her. In reality, having the phone break or otherwise become useless during her fall probably would have been the better choice, since it would eliminate the phone question altogether. 

Lara is clearly an experienced geologist, so it’s surprising when she seems ill-prepared for what happens to her. She only has two bottles of water and some breath mints in her bag off of which to survive. Even if she didn’t think it was going to be a particularly dangerous or involved job, audiences wouldn’t be wrong in assuming that she would be experienced enough to know that you prepare for any potential scenario. It’s a hard plot hole to ignore, especially when she makes attempts to climb out of the hole. 

While the launching off point of Breath and its overall aim of trying to find emotional catharsis through the flashbacks is a solid building block for a story, the execution leaves much to be desired. There are too many questions and holes that distract the viewer from getting fully invested in both Lara’s emotional and physical journey.

2 out of 10