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Breath
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| Wand6122360 |
Date: Tuesday, 24-Apr-18, 12:40 PM | Message # 811 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 517
Status: Offline |
Thanks DSP. Beautiful photos. Nice articles. |
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| Tassie |
Date: Tuesday, 24-Apr-18, 4:34 PM | Message # 812 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 517
Status: Offline |
Another great review-I'm so happy for Simon and all concerned in the making of 'Breath.' Thanks for posting DSP. |
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| bee |
Date: Tuesday, 24-Apr-18, 7:33 PM | Message # 813 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1525
Status: Offline |
Yet another great review, so pleased for Simon. |
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| Deedee |
Date: Tuesday, 24-Apr-18, 7:40 PM | Message # 814 |
 Bee's Knees
Messages: 704
Status: Offline |
Such a great review and a pleasure to read. So happy for Simon. Thanks for posting. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Wednesday, 25-Apr-18, 8:34 PM | Message # 815 |
 Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
So overall, reviews are great, and the film is receiving a very good reception from the public. 
I'm really happy for him and for all the people who worked with him on this film. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Wednesday, 25-Apr-18, 9:24 PM | Message # 816 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
Article from Student Edege
https://studentedge.org/article....-breath
Act, Surf, Study: Samson Coulter Talks Making
Tim Winton and Simon Baker’s "Breath"
By Simon Miraudo in News › Movies Apr 26, 2018
Act, Surf, Study: Samson Coulter Talks Making Tim Winton and Simon Baker’s "Breath"
"Oh, s***… I don’t actually know how to act."
'Surfer' and 'actor' are two dream careers, equally unattainable. For most.
But Samson Coulter, one year out of high school, is already trying to find a way to balance both.
"Surfing has always been my main goal," he tells Student Edge.
"That’s always been what I love doing and I still love doing it. I’m competing all through this year. I’m
heading to Chile in May for a couple of competitions."
Before then, he just has the minor business of promoting Breath, the Tim Winton adaptation he stars in.
It’s directed by The Mentalist himself, Simon Baker, who handpicked the amateur actor after specifically
seeking someone who could handle themselves on a surfboard to play the coming-of-age tale’s fearful hero,
Pikelet. The similarly inexperienced Ben Spence was cast as Pikelet’s
troublemaking mate, Loonie.
"I’ve always been a bit too scared to ask [Baker why]," Samson laughed.
"I’ve just always accepted that he knows what he’s doing, and he’s obviously got a clear vision of what
he wants to achieve; of how he wants the film to play out."
That meant Coulter, who already knew his way around the board but had never actually tread the boards,
would be thrown into the deep end, learning through rehearsals and opposite established actors like Baker,
Elizabeth Debicki, Richard Roxburgh and Rachael Blake.
(Baker plays Sando, Pike and Loonie’s Zen surfing master in 1970s Western Australia, while Debicki,
armed with an American accent, is Sando's depressed, live-in girlfriend, Eva. Roxburgh and Blake star
as Pike’s parents.)
"Simon would always tell me to stop acting, which didn’t really make any sense until the end of the shoot,"
he says.
"I think he just wanted me to be myself and he wanted the relationship between me and Loonie as natural
as possible, because off camera we were just mucking around anyway. He didn’t want either of us to get
too serious when the camera was rolling, because he wanted that same energy we had when we were
off the set."
The journey to the role of Pikelet was an unlikely one for Coulter, who initially dismissed the idea when his
mum and dad brought up the open audition callout at the dinner table.
"You know what it’s like with your parents," he laughed.
"It’s kind of funny, because I never sort of sat down and contemplated that I might actually get the part.
The whole journey was just a bit of fun. Every time I would make it to another audition, me and mum and
dad would laugh and say, 'At least we made it this far.'
"It wasn’t really until that last audition, I actually went, 'Oh, s***, I don’t know what I’m actually gonna do
if I get the part, because I don’t actually know how to act.'"
(Pictured: Baker, Coulter and Spence.)
It took Samson a while to feel comfortable inside Pikelet’s… well, not shoes, exactly, because the character
spends most of his time in the surf. Let’s say: wetsuit.
"Realistically, it probably wasn’t until the very end of the shoot that I was completely confident that I knew
exactly who that person was and felt comfortable playing that role," he says.
"The thing that I found [hard] was maintaining the energy and finding those emotions within myself, because
they were places I don’t usually go to.
"That’s all part of the fun, and that’s what’s rewarding when you do finish a scene and you go, 'Yeah, I think
I felt the feelings that I should’ve.'"
His character, Pikelet, not only endures the life-risking, sometimes paralysing terror of facing heavy waves
in shark-infested waters, but also the emotional torment of a disastrous, dangerous romantic relationship and
the splintering of his friendship with Loonie.
"I sort of thought that actors had it pretty good there for a while, but I was getting home from work and
just collapsing," he said.
And he did all this while still at school.
"I was in those last two terms of Year 11, so it was a bit of a setback [to my studies], but I tried to catch up
as best I could and ended up fine," he explains.
Now, however, he worries about kids being forced to watch his performance over and over again, when Breath,
the film, inevitably becomes a “related text” on the curriculum, where many of Winton's books and adaptations
already sit.
"I’m just going, 'Oh, no,'" he laughs.
"I just remember, when I was in school, every text that we studied, you overanalyse so much to the point
where you don’t enjoy the film anymore. So, I’m just going, 'Don’t do it.'"
Still, Samson enjoyed the acting experience enough to want another opportunity to try it all again, while also
continuing to surf.
"I figured, why not give them both a crack and hopefully I can stumble along something similar in the future
where I can try and do both in front of the camera," he says.
Breath arrives in Australian cinemas 3 May. |
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| tigglewink01 |
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-18, 0:06 AM | Message # 817 |
 Rip Snorter
Messages: 315
Status: Offline |
Thanks for the read and I congrat Simon on the award they gave him with the showing this week for selling all the tickets within 2 hours. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-18, 12:49 PM | Message # 818 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
Some comments on IG or twitter:
from @hanmacgee
Well that was a bit spesh! Front row for a Q&A screening of Breath with Simon Baker was the stuff of dreams. He’s beautiful. And the film is bloody brilliant too ☺️. The cinematography and the score were mesmerising. I was - dare I say it - breathless throughout the viewing. Corny as it sounds, I was so enthralled I took deep lungfuls of air and forgot to exhale in many of the ocean scenes. It’s just exquisite. Go see it
from @chereerobinson
@breathfilm go see it! Suited for ages 14+ and not a surf film but lots of awesome surfing all done by Simon and the two main stars. I really enjoyed it. Amazing storyline.
from @agnewinteriors
I saw Breath at Luna Cinema on Monday and still thinking about it! Enjoyed it on so many levels, stunning scenery , complex characters, funny , blasts from my past 70’s so much and more. congrats to all involved .
from @simonbakerfp
I saw it back in October at the Zurich film festival and even tho I wasn't born yet and never surfed in my life I was mesmerised by the scenery and the love for every single detail. Amazing acting, beautiful music..simply perfect. I am so glad the Australian audience likes it so much (so far). Good things come to good people I guess. Simon really deserves the success
from @catdezign
Such a privilege to be at the Central Coast premier of Simon Baker’s film BREATH adapted from the book by Tim Winton. It was also a Q&A event after the film and I was lucky enough to ask Simon a question. This photo courtesy of Avoca Beach Picture Theatre is when Simon was answering my question. He explained the film is his own enterpretation based on his life’s experiences and the cinematography brings you right in to the scenes feeling like you’re actually there with the characters. Wow.. brilliant film. Go see! Film release is May 3!
from @joannacoby
At the Breath screening with Director Simon Baker in his home town. As one of my favourite novels, and writers (Tim Winton) I felt the film remained true to the novel and was thoroughly enjoyable, sparking that deep passion for the ocean that we inherently know growing up on the coastlines of Australia...
from @l |
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| Deedee |
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-18, 5:47 PM | Message # 819 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 704
Status: Offline |
Does my heart good to read such glowing comments of Breath and such great reviews. Simon must be so happy and proud with its success not just at the film festivals although, of course ,that’s fantastic but with his own Australian audiences as well. If only we could have a rough idea when we might get to see it. It could well be when it goes to dvd. Thanks for all the postings DSP. |
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| tigglewink01 |
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-18, 6:30 PM | Message # 820 |
Rip Snorter
Messages: 315
Status: Offline |
Thanks for posting DSP these lovely comments about Simon and Breath I also like Deedee would like roughly when we might be able to see it. Thanks again. |
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| bee |
Date: Thursday, 26-Apr-18, 7:19 PM | Message # 821 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1525
Status: Offline |
Such wonderful comments. I've yet to see a bad review! I'm so happy for him as this movie has been a labour of love for him for so long and he thoroughly deserves this success. It just makes me more excited to see it! |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Friday, 27-Apr-18, 9:59 AM | Message # 822 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
BREATH is a Cinematic Siren to the Ocean's Allure
April 27, 2018 | By saltypopcorn
https://saltypopcorn.com.au/breath-review/
We all know Simon Baker, an Aussie actor turned international actor probably best known as TV’s THE MENTALIST or in THE DEVIL
WEAR’S PRADA. A true Aussie surfer boy turned international star. He had never directed a film before but as a true Aussie he reads
all of Tim WInton’s work and when he read BREATH he stated to Channel 7’s Matt Tinney, “It felt a lot like someone had dug into my
soul and beautifully articulated the things I felt inside.” And so the seeds of a debut direction were sown. Baker captured and
understood the essence of BREATH and more so the psyche of Winton’s mind in delivering this Aussie masterpiece to the big screen.
BREATH isn’t cinema, it’s cinematic poetry and it releases in Australian on May 3 from Roadshow Films. It is rated M and runs for 115mins.
BREATH SYNOPSIS:
BREATH is a story about youthful recklessness and the lengths we will go, against our better judgment, to avoid feeling ordinary.
Bruce “Pikelet” Pike is a boy growing up in Sawyer, a small, charmless coastal town. Together with his unlikely friend Loonie, the boys
discover the adrenaline rush of surfing and fall under the spell of an enigmatic big-wave surfer named Sando, who takes the boys under
his wing and challenges them to take on bigger risks and ride waves beyond their control. As the boys mature into adolescence, each
discovers his own longings and limits, and the rift that develops between them threatens to push each toward self-destruction.
WINTON AND BAKER BRING THE SPIRIT OF THE AUSTRALIAN SURFER TO THE BIG SCREEN:
BREATH is a subtle approach into the soulful allure of the ocean by coastal living Australians. But it is much more if you know Winton.
The title “BREATH” always felt odd. Then you notice the entire movie looks at breathing and the feeling of being stifled.
The movie starts with Pikelet and Loonie (could they be any more Tim Winton in their naming?) competing as to who can hold their
breath the longest. When pummelled under the surf Pikelet regularly is gasping for breath and someone in the movie has a sexual
fetish to need to be choked during sex. Why a scene listening to Pikelet’s dad snore? And then there is Pikelet himself, whenever
he is stressed he does a breath “thing,” it’s on its way to panting. And the major nod to breath is the ocean itself – it comes in and
out, like air, and it’s size is determined by swell and ocean winds.
Sharing this theme is the beauty of youth and the erosion of age. And finally what it means to be extraordinary, by not wanting to
surf the biggest craziest break does this make Pikelet ordinary or smart, knowing his limits? Eva’s (Elizabeth Debicki) destroyed leg
and her inability ski anymore leaves her stifled and choking on life, she is decayed. Is Sando’s (Simon Baker) desire to push the youths
a way for him to re-assure himself that he still has his youth to some extent? It is almost primitive in his challenge to Pikelet.
Is Eva’s need to pull Pikelet closer to her the same reason? And how far will the boys go in their need to be more than ordinary?
Do you remember your mates egging you on to do something more dangerous than you would normally embrace?
LOVE STORY:
I spoke to a friend last night who was at the Sydney premiere and they had a QnA with everyone in the movie (where was my invite?)
but Winton explained it was a love story. At first I didn’t get it – but then as well as the breathing aspect of the themes love is noticeable
everywhere. The love of a best friend, the love of the more adventurous father figure, the first love, the sexual love, the family love,
the love of the ocean and eventually the love of one’s self. The only true love that survived this story was the one that also contained
respect. Nice one Mr Winton!!
TECHNICAL:
Following the themes of the movie it is, simply, a work of beauty. Such wonderful muted warm tones contrasted against the blue of
the ocean. All the fibres of the clothing are close to hand knit, and naturally fibrous. Marden Dean’s (BOYS IN THE TREES) land
cinematography is just superb, and as beautiful is Rick Rifici’s ocean cinematography.
The surfing is so poetically natural, it was like watching a ballet, except the stage is throwing tonnes of water at the dancers.
The water scenes are visually real and you can tell there is no green screen or cheap inserted green screen actors surfing. I could
have watched a four hour version of this movie with more surfing and more of the cast. Most of the film is shot in Denmark, Western
Australia, and what a beautiful town and beaches this place has. Wouldn’t mind living there myself!
PERFECT AND BRAVE CASTING:
It was a daring and beautiful move by Baker and Producers to cast Samson Coulter and Ben Spence, they cast the two leads for their
surfing and taught them to act. Coulter is actually a local to where I live and both boys are junior competitive surfers. Their acting is
more than acceptable, it’s raw and the lens eats them both up. Coulter’s Pikelet is an introverted thinker who knows himself and stands
for what he believes in, he has a lot of screen time and for a debut performance it was marvellous. I see one of the many AFI awards
coming to BREATH this year deservedly ending up in the hands of Coulter.
Ben Spence as Loonie, this kid was a complete flashback to my youth. I was Pikelet to some extent growing up on the Australia coastline,
I had two close friends at separate times that were both Loonie’s. Spence’s delivery of Loonie was at times hysterical, I would love to see
him do more movies after this! Sadly my friends’ outcome wasn’t far from Loonie’s.
Simon Baker is wonderful onscreen in anything, he is so laid back and his voice, it’s almost hypnotic. Let’s add to that how gorgeous he is,
I would love his hippy-by-the-beach lifestyle! And what a transformation for Elizabeth Debicki, from GATSBY to THE NIGHT MANAGER to
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2, all quite commercial and model-like beauty roles. To see her bare and stretching her range was fantastic.
My heart broke a little for her.
IN CONCLUSION:
BREATH is one of the most resonating Australian movies I have seen in years that deserves all the accolades coming its way. The film
is more than beautiful, it is a cinematic siren to the ocean’s allure and of how its beauty balanced with danger is a mirror for maturing
from child to adult. No movie has made me think this deeply since, like, forever haha. |
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| Deedee |
Date: Friday, 27-Apr-18, 12:12 PM | Message # 823 |
Bee's Knees
Messages: 704
Status: Offline |
My goodness just read that review and it brought tears to my eyes! Just perfect. To say I really want to see this film this very minute! is an understatement. |
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| DS_Pallas |
Date: Friday, 27-Apr-18, 10:19 PM | Message # 824 |
Fair Dinkum
Messages: 1979
Status: Offline |
Another review Deedee, also very interesting and very well written.
The Camberra Times - April 27 2018 - 11:45PM
Simon Baker channels his teenage surf experience
in movie of Tim Winton's Breath
by Fiona Capp
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/enterta....2g.html
Like many Australians who came of age in the surf in the 1970s and 1980s, I was as much in love with surfing's spirit
of rebellion and the escape it offered from my safe suburban upbringing, as I was with the thrill of riding the waves.
To surf was to reject all that was solid and predictable and embrace the edgy and unknown.
When I returned to surfing as a mature woman after a 15-year break, it struck me that for all surf culture's obsession
with big-wave hunting and the quest for new frontiers, the oceanic and the domestic did not have to be mutually
exclusive. Freed from the machismo of seafaring mythology with its imperial ambitions of "ruling the waves", surfing
allows for a new conception of adventure and heroism in which you don't have to go "in far" in order to go "out deep",
to quote the poet Robert Frost. It is possible to commune with the sublime and still be home in time for tea.
n the film adaptation of Tim Winton's acclaimed novel Breath, directed by Simon Baker, the young protagonist, Pikelet,
finds himself growing up too fast when he is lured into what Winton calls the "gladiatorial realm" of big-wave surfing
and extreme sex. Through this painful getting of wisdom, he comes to the insight earlier than most of us that you don't
have to turn your back on the ordinary in order to do something as extraordinary as dancing across the face of a wave.
Although faithful to the book in many respects, the film offers a more optimistic take on Pikelet's ability to come through
his loss of innocence without being destroyed by it. In the novel, Pikelet is left emotionally and psychologically crippled
by his teenage encounter with hippy surf guru, Sando, and his wife, Eva (Elizabeth Debicki) – an ex-champion freestyle
skier who initiates him into the world of grown-up sex. In flight from the responsibilities of adulthood, the couple exploit
their mystique and their influence over Pikelet (Samson Coulter) and his mate, Loonie (Ben Spence), as they seek to
recapture the intense highs of the glory days of their youth.
While Baker – who also plays Sando – says he found the book profoundly moving and that it resonated with his
experiences as a boy surfing at Lennox Head, he wanted the film to explore the resilience that a character like Pikelet
could possess. As in many rites of passage stories, much of the narrative drive comes from the tension between the
boys' desire to push their limits and prove themselves in the adult arena, and the pull of the home environments that
have made them who they are. Pikelet draws his strength from his protective, loving family whereas the first time we
see Loonie he is sporting a black-eye courtesy of his violent father who runs the local pub.
In the book, Pikelet's solid background and introspective nature are not enough to stop him going off the rails, and he
spends his adult life reeling from the damage done in his adolescence. The film, however, takes Winton's preoccupation
with troubled masculinity in a different direction when Pikelet realises that a truce can be achieved between the lure of
danger and the security of home.
Baker is adamant the bravest and most heroic moment in the film would be when Pikelet stands his ground and resists
the pressure from Sando and Loonie to surf the unconquered big-wave break called Nautilus. "When I look back at that
time in my life," Baker says, "I certainly wish that I had more confidence in who I was to say, 'I'm not going to do that',
and not feel like I'd failed. I think we have evolved enough to be able to accept that as a strength. They're the moments
that define you and make you who you are and separate you from the mob."
In its defiant mood of rebellion, rejection of responsibility and worship of youth, surf culture has traditionally celebrated
the eternal adolescent in all of us: that secret part of the self that resists the pressure to be civilised and domesticated
and finds atavistic solace in the sea's savage mystery. While we don't need to relinquish it in order to grow up, there's
no escaping the fact that clinging to this inner adolescent has stunted surf culture. Localism, sexism, surf rage and
racism have been some of its uglier manifestations.
Along with Winton's eloquent essay on his own surfing experiences The Wait and the Flow, the novel and film of Breath,
offer a nuanced commentary on surf culture's own protracted coming of age. Winton started surfing in the early 1970s
(when the novel is set) and credits it with getting him through adolescence. "When I was lonely, confused and angry,
the ocean was always there, a vast salty poultice sucking the poison from my system."
At the same time, he believes the Aquarius generation's veneration of freedom came at a cost. "People forsook the
group in the late '60s and thus began the 'festival of me'. Surfers have always been the most gigantic narcissists, so it
was a perfect alignment. I'm not talking about hobby surfers here, but lifelong hardcore surfers who sublimate every
other part of their lives to the tides and the swell and the weather,"I he says. In their conception of themselves as
exceptional and not answerable to anyone, Sando and Eva epitomise this strand of arrested development in surf culture.
With its gentle pace and loving depiction of the seductiveness of the alternative universe the Sanderson's inhabit in
their wooden house on stilts surrounded by bush, the film presents a more oblique critique of this way of life.
While Baker agrees that surfing has, "always [been] a macho sport, particularly in the 1970s", his Sando is an alluring
enigma who goads the boys beyond their limits even as he tells them they have nothing to prove. "I wanted to play
around with the masculine ideal, the Australian male stereotype, to frame it and then step outside the frame and
basically subvert it, in a way that wasn't dishonouring it," he says.
The West Australian premiere of Breath took place in Albany on the state's south coast, 60 kilometres from the small,
close-knit town of Denmark where the film is set. Before the screening, Baker, Winton, Coulter and Spence lined up
on a strip of red carpet to be photographed and take questions from the media. Behind them stretched a larger-than-life
promotional poster of Sando and the boys with boards under their arms, surveying the surf.
I certainly wish that I had more confidence
in who I was to say, "I'm not going to do that".
Simon Baker
It is two years since the film was shot and while Baker looked much the same, the boyish faces of the 15-year-olds
in the poster had sharpened into the more angular features of young men. Although both are experienced surfers,
neither had acted in front of the camera before being cast. Weeks of media promotional tours lay ahead of them and
although they seemed remarkably composed, it was evident they were still coming to grips with the impact that the film
would have on their own coming of age.
At the beach during a photo shoot earlier in the day, they veered between goofing around – exchanging rings in a mock
wedding ceremony – and taking the spotlight in their stride. "Making the film was a rollercoaster ride," Coulter says,
"because it was such a big learning curve from start to finish." One minute he was at school and the next, he was on
the set, "being brought coffees all day and kind of being treated like an adult". Looking back, Spence felt he was able to
throw himself into his role as Loonie because he was still young enough not to feel too self-conscious.
The most challenging moment of the promotional tour was probably the Q&A after the Albany premiere when
Coulter was asked about the intimate scenes between Eva and Pikelet. To much nervous laughter from the
audience, he admitted that beforehand he was "scared shitless", but the professional atmosphere and support
of the cast and crew made it a positive experience.
In his signature, low-key way, Baker took Coulter out for a surf in advance of these scenes to sound him out
about how he was feeling about "the end of the script". The time Baker and the boys spent surfing together
was fundamental to the bond established between them. While Baker's directorial approach had much in common
with Sando's mentoring of Pikelet and Loonie, there was one crucial difference. Whereas Sando casually exploited
his influence over the boys, Baker was acutely conscious of his responsibilities in loco parentis.
"I didn't want the boys to feel any tension, any of that uptight rigour that can manifest on a film set. It was very
important for me that it was loose and organic," he says. "They were so willing and so free that it brought that
joyful excitement out in everyone. These young boys were up for anything, they were phenomenal and I am so
proud of their work."
Both the book and the film remind us that the business of growing up – in or out of the surf – never ends. And
that those like Sando, Loonie and Eva, who stay stuck in the past, unable move on to the next phase of life, risk
bitterness or self-destruction.
As his directorial debut, the making of Breath was itself a rite of passage for Baker. While he has directed episodes
of the television drama series, The Mentalist – in which he starred and for which he is best known as an actor –
Breath is his first feature film. "I'm almost 50 and I'd be lying if I didn't say I'm probably somewhere in the midst
of a midlife crisis," he says. "I'm grateful to have had something to channel it into."
Just as Breath explores the way the main characters deal with their fears and insecurities, Baker found himself
wrestling with self-doubt while making the film. A friend who is an artist urged him not to shut it off, comparing it
to meditation where you acknowledge your thoughts and feelings but don't let them take over. "You invite fear
on the journey with you. You just don't let it choose the music." |
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| tigglewink01 |
Date: Saturday, 28-Apr-18, 7:51 AM | Message # 825 |
Rip Snorter
Messages: 315
Status: Offline |
Wow thanks DsP for the read and the link I'm from the UK but I cannot wait to see the film.
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