If I really
like Lee Jun Suk, the one that completely won me over in No Breathing, is Seo In Guk. After seeing that movie, I’m convinced
that that guy’s made for comedies! He literally brought all the fun No Breathing, not that movie was a
tear-jerker and that he saved the whole thing, but he managed to stay light brought
this light touch to the movie. His character wasn’t the smartest nor the cutest
but he was certainly the most endearing.
Frankly No Breathing is not what you could call an original movie. It’s neither original in his characters nor his plot. The context is what could make the movie a bit unique. Basically we have a non-self-conscious swimming genius Jo Won-Il (Seo In Guk) who will meet an official genius, Jung Woo-Sang (Lee Jun Suk). The non-self-conscious genius but who will end up being more a genius than the official one. You got me? The premise can be used in whatever field: sport, sciences, finances, school. You mainly put a genius and a non-genius together, make them confront, add a love interest in the middle, shake up the whole thing and you’ll get a plot for movie or a drama (it depends on how many things you want to say but God knows that sometimes it’s just better not to say a lot!) It’s dead easy if you look at it.
We have Jung
Woo-Sang who’s an Olympic medallist. After a fight with a concurrent during an
official competition, he’s forced to go back to school. See that as an act of
repentance to the whole nation. He’ll stay there while preparing himself for
the 2012 Olympic Games in London. He will be back even better than before. Then
there’s Jo Won-Il, a good for nothing young man who has been expulsed from
school and who’s ready to do nothing with his life. But that good-nothing hasn’t
take Jae-Suk (Park Chul-Min) into
account. That ahjussi, an old friend of Jo Won-Il’s dead parents, who took care
of the young orphan, is determination to make something out of Jo Won-Il. Jae-Suk
knows the kid has a potential and want to reveal it to the world. He will then convince
his friend, the coach Jang (Park Jung-Chul), a teacher at a sport high school
to give Jo Won-Il a chance. Jung Woo-Sang and Jo Won-Il will naturally end up
in the same school, in the same group, revolving around the same swimming pool.
At this
point, everything was in place for us to have good battles and testosterones fights, in the water. But then I
waited but it was in vain. All right I’m lying here ‘cause we had one or two
fights and a good competition between those two, but everything came quite late
in the movie, that it almost killed me. It’s also true that before compete
against one another, first our heroes had their own battles to win. Jung
Woo-Sang had to win the heart of his
father who saw him only as a winning machine ‘programmed’ to bring medals at
home. He didn’t really care about his son’s feelings nor his wife’s
protestations. He wanted his son to be the best and to maintain that national
heroic image no matter what it cost. That also included cheating and lying.
It’s not a big deal if that can make his son bringing more medals at home,
isn’t it?
Jo Won-Il had to fight his bitter feelings over that father gone too early. Jo Won-Il’s father was a professional swimmer. Arrived at some point of his career, he released that swimming was taking too much and the day he decided to retire and to spend more time with his wife and son, he died in a tragic accident. He was talented and gifted with a special technique called ‘no breathing’. That method consists of holding your breath for a long moment in the water. Therefore you won’t have to take your head out of the water to breathe as often as the others. You will then win precious seconds against your opponents. But if you’re holding the air for too long in your lungs, there’s a big risk of suffocating and die. You can’t hold your breath and still putting too much efforts without any consequences. That what tragically happened to Jo Won-Il’s father. He was hoping to win his last race but ended up dying trying in front of his son. Sad. How to deal with that when you’re only eight? Predictably Jo Won-Il inherited his father’s aptitude but got reluctant to becoming a professional swimmer himself after that awful day.
Jo Won-Il had to fight his bitter feelings over that father gone too early. Jo Won-Il’s father was a professional swimmer. Arrived at some point of his career, he released that swimming was taking too much and the day he decided to retire and to spend more time with his wife and son, he died in a tragic accident. He was talented and gifted with a special technique called ‘no breathing’. That method consists of holding your breath for a long moment in the water. Therefore you won’t have to take your head out of the water to breathe as often as the others. You will then win precious seconds against your opponents. But if you’re holding the air for too long in your lungs, there’s a big risk of suffocating and die. You can’t hold your breath and still putting too much efforts without any consequences. That what tragically happened to Jo Won-Il’s father. He was hoping to win his last race but ended up dying trying in front of his son. Sad. How to deal with that when you’re only eight? Predictably Jo Won-Il inherited his father’s aptitude but got reluctant to becoming a professional swimmer himself after that awful day.
That’s really a miss that we hadn’t given the chance to see more of this
technique in the movie. I had no idea no
breathing was even consider as a special skill. I really wished the movie to
emphasize that aspect more. I mean if you decide to call your movie No Breathing, don’t wait the late half
of the movie to let us know that it’s actually a technique.
As I said, I really missed a nice and healthy rivalry between Jo Won-Il and Jung Woo-Sung but I’m thankful the movie didn’t serve us a senseless
and crazy competition between them. I mean it would has been so easy to make
Jung Woo-Sung a cold and jaded super champion only happy to see the others on
the ground and Jo Won-Il the poor victim, bullied and traumatized. At
least they had mercy on us.
No rivalry in the in the pool (at least in the beginning) but we had a sweet rivalry in the love department. Well…that love triangle isn’t as horrible as it sounds ‘cause I saw worse! Yura, who plays Jung-Eun, Jae-Suk’s daughter, was adorable and God knows I have no particular sympathy for her in the first place. The role wasn’t far from what she really is in real life. Playing a singer when you’re actually one, isn’t really what I’d call a performance. But she tried and was credible at the best. She grew up with Jo Won-Il when he became an orphan. There’s clearly something else than a strong friendship between those two. So when Jung Woo-Sung, who never forgot about Jung-Eun since the day he left the country to become a champion, started his love parade around her, that naturally woke Jo Won-Il’s jealousy up. I promise this triangle thing wasn’t atrocious but despite the fact that they were cute togheter, I haven't been deeply touched by the romance actually.
The movie had two young capable actors at his disposal and trust me all
my focus was on them. I really liked their relation. They grew up being friends
and a helpful support to one another. That scene at the end when Jo Won-Il is talking to his father at the funeral parlour and said: ‘Dad, there’s someone I would like you to
meet.’ And Jung Woo-Sung stepped forward. Aaah how sweet. I enjoyed so much
having those two moving in the same space that I’m praying the dramas gods to
make them buddies in a future drama. I know it’s not impossible. When they’ll
both be free from their crazy schedules, please make it happen!
The movie has his own flaws but its lovely enough to
make you have a good time. Give it a try at least for Seo In-Guk and Lee
Jun-Suk in swimwear! And nothing can beat this argument. 
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