The Air I Breathe

The Air I Breathe is a crime drama built around four interlocking stories, each named for an emotional state drawn from an old Chinese proverb: happiness, pleasure, sorrow and love. A burned-out banker risks everything on a long shot and then turns to robbery; a gangster who can glimpse what is coming drifts through a world he already knows; a pop singer finds herself pulled into the orbit of a dangerous man; and a doctor fights to save the woman he loves from a fatal illness. Their paths cross in ways none of them controls.

The film marked the feature directing debut of Jieho Lee, who wrote the screenplay with Bob DeRosa. Its cast mixes established and younger performers, among them Brendan Fraser, Andy García, Kevin Bacon, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Clark Gregg and Emile Hirsch; roughly thirty actors are credited, with a crew of about 146. It was produced by Paul Schiff, Darlene Caamano Loquet and Emilio Diez Barroso for Paul Schiff Productions and NALA Films.

Made for about 10 million dollars, the film returned roughly 3 million worldwide, a modest result against its cost. On IMDb it holds 6.7 out of 10 from around 36,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.3 from 415 votes. A critics' score of 3.9 out of 10 from 38 reviews is noticeably lower than the audience figures, suggesting viewers responded more warmly than reviewers.