BREATHE GALA D: Andy Serkis. UK. 117 min. Sep 11, 6 pm, Roy Thomson Hall Sep 12, 10 am, Winter Garden. Rating: NN
The true story of Robin Cavendish, who became an advocate for the disabled after he was paralyzed by polio, becomes a very odd and frustrating drama in this consistently off-key film.
For his directorial debut, actor Serkis – best known for his compelling motion-capture performances in The Lord Of The Rings and the new Planet Of The Apes cycle – slathers Cavendish’s story in the comforting, nostalgic touches of Call The Midwife, with Andrew Garfield stiff-upper-lipping it through the role of Robin.
It’s a novel approach, I’ll give it that, and it suggests Serkis has studied Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures, where characters coped with adversity by plastering on cheery smiles.
But Breathe doesn’t have that film’s masterful tonal control, struggling to integrate the naturalistic performance of Claire Foy as Robin’s supportive wife Diana with more eccentric creative choices like the casting of Tom Hollander as a pair of jolly twins. It just doesn’t gel, and it badly needs to.
