Breathing

Breathing follows Thomas Schubert’s Roman Kogler, an inmate at a juvenile facility, as he begins a job on the outside hauling dead bodies, with the film detailing the character’s day-to-day exploits both in and out of the prison. Actor-turned-director Karl Markovics has infused Breathing with an almost astonishingly deliberate pace that never becomes as oppressive as one might’ve feared, as the first-time filmmaker does a superb job of transforming Schubert’s character into an intriguing figure worthy of the viewer’s interest. Markovics’ decision to focus on the minutia of Roman’s work is certainly an intriguing choice, as the movie dwells on the microscopic details of Roman’s less-than-enthralling existence to a degree that eventually becomes hypnotic. (There is, for example, a long sequence in which Roman and a coworker meticulously prepare a corpse for transport.) The movie’s sporadic peeks into the central character’s personal life (eg his ongoing efforts at finding the mother who abandoned him) proves effective at fleshing him out, with Schubert’s impressively closed-off performance ensuring that Roman’s rare displays of emotion are more affecting than one might’ve anticipated. The end result is a persistently watchable piece of work that never quite becomes the riveting piece of work Markovics obviously wants it to be, yet the movie undoubtedly stands as a stirring debut from a promising new filmmaker.

**1/2 out of ****