Winton provides the “Stand by Me”-like voiceover for a character named Pikelet, looking back on his days of being a teenager who learned the ways of surfing, women, and emotion thanks to those around him. With his older version never shown, “Breath” focuses on the younger self, as played by Samson Coulter, who along with his best buddy Loonie (Ben Spence), are pretty recognizable as 13-year-olds: they relish their F-bombs, thrive off reckless goofs that could get them hurt (like biking near trucks or horsing around in the water) and steal anxious glances at women. The two beach blonds share a clear dynamic as well, with Loonie’s dangerousness coaxing out hero Pikelet further out of his shell. Outside of his friendship, he falls into a little romance with a classmate named Karen (Megan Smart), but is more clueless about his feelings than she is.
Baker enters the picture as Sando, the shaggiest beach blond of them all, who indoctrinates them into the world of surfing. With books like Moby Dick and White Fang prominently on his bookshelf, Sando becomes a harmless father figure (Pikelet’s father, played by Richard Roxburgh, is weirdly reduced to smiling at his son from afar, as if his arc was cut out). Sando takes the boys on progressively wild surfing expeditions, emphasizing the idea of facing fear by catching waves, while withholding pieces about his own life. As he gets smarter, Pikelet learns the most about life by observing Sando, not just by following his advice. But even as we’re seeing this all from Pikelet’s point-of-view, Baker’s character is only mysterious, not interesting.
A typical coming-of-age story starts to matriculate, especially with ideas of wisdom learned from the older people that we look up to, and the rewards of overcoming fear. Its pretty mild stuff, until it goes off the rails with a subplot involving Pikelet getting closer with Sando’s American wife, Eva (Elizabeth Debicki), who has a scar on her leg from a skiing accident in her happier past life. I won’t spoil what happens because it arrives much so much later in the movie, but it’s such a distinct chunk that it seems like a kooky sequel to the surfing lessons, with only thematic similarities about fear and interacting with under-written women to connect them. It’s telling that even this passage doesn’t give “Breath” the pulse that constantly eludes it, but it does make the film less forgettable as you toss it onto the pile of coming-of-age tales.
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