What does it take to crawl out of a deep, dark depressed spurred on by overwhelming grief? Perhaps a bit of happiness and joy, perhaps a new friendship, perhaps someone to pull you out of the darkness even if you don’t want to come back to the light. That beautiful, important person may end up being someone you least expect, perhaps even a complete stranger. Learning to Breathe Under Water is the newest film made by British filmmaker Rebekah Fortune, yet another entry in the growing super depressed widowed dads subgenre. An extension of the Sad Dads subgenre of cinema, defined most recently by Aftersun, these kind of movies are about fathers struggling to deal with their lives as parents without the mother being around to help out. Learning to Breathe Under Water is very similar to the other widowed sad dad British movie The Thing With Feathers with Benedict Cumberbatch, but thankfully it’s much better (I was not a big fan of that one). This one left me feeling actually enthusiastic by the end, and it’s so much more vibrant and uplifting, which is important even if it’s a sad story being told. Less doom & gloom, more breakfasts & laughs please. // Continue Reading ›
