'Breathless' revolves around the life of an abusive debt-collector named Sang-Hoon, an isolated and hateful person. Having lost his sister and mother at a very young age, due to accidents relating to domestic abuse, he is eternally angry on his father and fate. His despise for the people who can't stand up for themselves (stemming from witnessing his helpless mother) makes him even more violent towards his debtors. His attitude towards people and life starts changing after he bumps into a high school girl named Yeon-Hue. Being a father figure to his divorced half-sister's nephew Yeong-in, and his affection for Yeon-Hue brings out the compassionate side in him. But, as most times, cruelty has a price to pay...

This inspiring film marks the Writing & Directorial debut of talented actor Yang Ik-Joon, who stars as the lead as well. The passionate camera-work by Yun Jong-ho follows the characters in an intriguing way, using which the Director tells a compelling story about violence and abuse, interspersed with moments of humour and warmth. All the main characters are developed quite well, and are given proper depth and screen presence. All the actors involved give commendable performances.

The movie is as visceral as the punches thrown by the characters in this hard-hitting drama; it's a thought-provoking tale on the cycle of violence.

BREATHLESS, a 2008 film from South Korean detailing the misadventures of a small-time debt collector and the relationships he strives to pursue, is a hard-hitting slice of social drama that takes casual violence to whole new level. It's clearly a heartfelt project from Ik-Joon Yang, who wrote and directed as well as taking the starring role. Yang is excellent in all three capacities.

With a constantly profane script, a gritty level of realism throughout, and an entire lack of sentimentality, BREATHLESS is a thoroughly engaging piece of realist cinema. It has a cinema verite look about it, taking place on mean and run-down streets, and if some viewers find it depressing then that's because it strives to reflect real life rather than movie fantasy.

Violence - in the form of beatings and slappings - comes thick and fast and there's so much of it that the viewer soon becomes as desensitised as the central characters, so that the latest punishment almost becomes expected. Yet the quality characterisations and the intermingling of lots of different characters' lives is handled expertly so that this is never less than riveting. It's a strong film indeed, one that's tough to watch at times, but once which explores the depths of the human condition that most movies dare not tread.

I was given the chance to watch "Breathless" (aka "Ddongpari") here in 2020, and being a fan of Asian cinema, of course I sat down to watch this 2008 movie from writer and director Ik-joon Yang.

Well, I can't really claim that I was particularly impressed with this movie. I wanted to enjoy it and I really gave it a chance. But this storyline was just a swing and a miss for me. I didn't really find it enjoyable, and I was getting fast annoyed with the constant swearing, cussing and usage of foul language in almost every single sentence of dialogue.

I will say that the movie was definitely having some nice talents on the cast list, and they performed quite well to bring their various characters and roles to life on the screen. That was definitely a step in the right direction.

The movie was long, ungodly long, especially because nothing much of any interest happened as the monotonous storyline unfolded on the screen. It took forever to get from A to B, and with very little happening in between. I managed to endure about an hour and a half of this ordeal, then I simply turned off the movie. And I have zero intentions of returning to watch the rest of the movie. I didn't really care about the storyline, and the characters were drowning in a lack of proper and interesting plot.

"Breathless" was, and how do I best put this, well, pointless.

My rating of "Breathless" lands on a generous three out of ten stars, solely because of the acting performances and the production value.