Difficulty Breathing

Difficulty Breathing

Release Date - 2017

Country of Origin - Japan

Directed by Guy Pearce

Starring - Uran and Han

In this year of revival we've covered some familiar ground. I've reviewed some music as well as a movie. However while we did speak about underground (though now mainstream in some ways) music and a film based off of that, I thought it was time we did one of our good old dives into the underground world of cinema. For that I considered combing through the Unbalanced Ramblings vault of films to find some nice juicy classic piece to review, but then I figured why do that when I can cover something new from the underground?

Released two years ago today's' feature is Difficulty Breathing. The film is directed by Guy Pearce whom long time readers will remember from his old YouTube channel as well as being the director of a film we once featured called The Rope Maiden. While to this point Guy had created mostly short films, this marks his first film to creep into the full length territory (the film running about 40ish minutes). Along with that gone is the outright gore showcase that was The Rope Maiden and is instead replaced with something a bit more personal and claustrophobic.

What exactly is that? Well read on and find out my dear readers. Most importantly though, don't forget to play this loudly.

SYNOPSIS
The subject of a violent assault, a young woman makes the decision to become a recluse. Yet that decision may come to be something she regrets.

CRITIQUE

When watching this movie and after watching the movie is that the intent is to make you the viewer uncomfortable and feel the strain that our lead character is going through. It is that intent which led to every choice from shots and the music (which like the director I urge you to watch the film on as loud a volume setting as you can) to even the pacing. I know it sounds odd to bring up what many would call common things to keep in mind when creating a suspenseful film, let alone any form of film. However I bring this all up because these simple things are what make this picture so gut wrenching and headache inducing good. And yes you heard me say headache inducing and gut wrenching.

The cinematography of the movie is rather good and, while it does have the feel of being shot with an everyday camera, it in no way is distracting and adds to the atmosphere and mood of the flick. There's one scene in general I must say was done very nicely with how it was shot, but for spoiler reasons I won't say what scene it was. Yet from the technical side of the film the real star to me is the music. To try and give you as close as I can to an idea of what the score is like, imagine a movie by Shinya Tsukamoto or Shozin Fukui scored by Merzbow. Early pseudo snuff film era Merzbow. In other words, it is intense, very intense. Yet at the end of the day that is the point. Regardless of what one could say of the story (which I will get to), the technical side of the film, while simple, is bloody superb and is a character in its own right.

But speaking of the story, how is it? I can say that for as simplistic as it is, that it is a good story. That the story is simple is in no way a bad thing to me either, as like with the technical side of the film, I find that the simpleness of it adds to what the flick is able to present and achieve with its atmosphere. Sadly that is all I can really say without getting into serious spoiler territory and that is something I do not wish to do as this movie works best if you go into it cold.

VERDICT
At the end of the day the question always comes down to is the review subject a good thing? We have been on a rocky back and forth road over the years in terms of quality of material. However Difficulty Breathing is a subject that we can add to the list of home run knockout successes we have reviewed in the years here. Guy is someone who over time has shown that he knows what he's doing within the realm of cult and underground film and with this I believe he's really, really hit his stride. The Rope Maiden was not bad (I have not seen his short films so I cannot speak to how they are) by a long shot, but Difficulty Breathing easily blows it away in every way possible.

I didn't touch upon it above, but I will say now that the acting that lead actress Uran does is superb in delivery without ever uttering a single line. The picture honestly plays out to a degree as a silent film with an accompanying score. Again I can't say a lot more, but needless to say her acting is the main driving force along with the music of the movie and the two combined, along with the simplicity of the story creates a great viewing experience.

Really I can't express a whole lot else on how much I enjoy this movie without breaking my no spoilers rule on this one. To wrap it up, Difficulty Breathing is quite easily the best new underground film I have not only seen in a long time and I urge any of you who have an interest in Japanese horror, Shozin Fukui, Shinya Tsukamoto, or anything else dealing with cult underground cinema to do yourself a favor and get this movie. But like I said up top, if you do by a copy, play it loud.