![]() ![]() ![]() The two boys are agog at their first glimpse of surfing: “Never had I seen something so beautiful, so pointless and elegant, as if dancing on water was the best thing a man could do,” the adult Bruce recalls. (Pikelet’s more tolerant pa is played with gentle strength by Richard Roxburgh.) That’s not the case for 14-year-old bestie Ivan, aka “Loonie” (Ben Spence), a wild child who appears to run loose, save when he’s being beaten by his awful father. Bruce, aka “Pikelet” (Samson Coulter), is a 13-year-old from a stable home who dutifully attends school. ![]() Winton himself provides lyrical voiceover narration in this flashback account of our main protagonist’s early teens in a small town near the western Australian coast (its time period rendered somewhat vaguer than the mid-’70s of the book). Though not without its flaws, the movie has authenticity and resonance there have been plenty of good surfing documentaries, but very few good dramas about the sport - a short list on which “Breath” instantly earns a prominent spot. Baker also plays the adult lead, and co-wrote the screenplay adapted from celebrated Oz scribe Tim Winton’s 2008 novel (his 20th). Having directed several episodes of his own long-running TV vehicle “The Mentalist,” Aussie actor Simon Baker makes a confident transition behind the camera to feature filmmaking with “ Breath,” the tale of two teens’ introduction to surfing under an older man’s tutelage. ![]()
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