Vivamax: Review of BREATHE AGAIN: Suffocating the Senses

June 3, 2022

Joanna (Ariella Arida) and Paulo (Ivan Padilla) had been going steady for seven years now. All her girlfriends are all getting married already, and her parents Dr. Stephen (Rey PJ Abellana) and Bridget (Liz Alindogan) are getting worried that she might miss the train. Aside from this personal stress, she was also under pressure at the job as a finance executive under her boss (Toby Martin) where she is up for promotion. 

One night, Paulo suddenly popped the awaited question, and Joanna accepted his proposal. To celebrate, he booked what was a romantic weekend at a beach resort for the two of them. However, when they were over there, Paulo would rather go motorbike riding with his friends and riding of another sort with Vivien (Jela Cuenca). Meanwhile, he left Joanna to take free diving lessons under instructor Robert (Tony Labrusca).

What was odd about this "romance" movie was that there was absolutely no romantic chemistry between any of the couples here. Joanna and Paulo felt poorly matched from the first time we saw them together, how could they have stayed together for seven years? We see all the red flags about Paulo and wonder why Joanna was putting up with him. The way Joanna nags at Paulo was just about as noisy as a fish monger in the market. Terrible.

I like Ariella Arida's Joanna only when she was on her own and free to express herself in her art. Every scene Joanna had with either Paulo or Robert, I felt bad for Arida. Padilla, as noted in his past films, looked bored and passionless as Paulo, even in his sex scenes with any of the women he had. Despite the "nobility" of his character environmental advocate Robert, actor Labrusca came across as self-conscious and full of himself. 

Director Raffy Francisco made sure we feel how suffocated Joanna was at that point in her life. From that tight bridesmaid's gown she was fitting in the first scene, to all those underwater diving scenes, the metaphor was clear. However, the story was just so trite and predictable, and the performances were so lazy (Padilla and Labrusca) or hammy (Abellana and Alindogan), you'll want to fast forward the whole thing to save your breath. 1/10.