Shaunak Sen’s All That Breathes reinvents the environmental documentary by portraying, in incisive yet lyrical fashion, the reciprocal influence of animals and humans. For more than a year, Sen followed New Delhi brothers Mohammad Saud and Nadeem Shehzad as they rescued birds of prey from the increasingly destructive effects of urban pollution. While charting the siblings’ daily struggles and successes, he also documented their poetic reflections on humankind’s relationship to the environment, the interaction of wildlife with the city, and India’s explosions of anti-Muslim violence. Suffused with beauteous, sobering, and contemplative imagery, All That Breathes ponders the delicate bonds of interconnectivity among humans and between species.
For in-depth thoughts on All That Breathes, please see my colleague Brandon Lewis’s review from its original Sundance debut here.
Video Quality
All That Breathes arrives on Blu-Ray courtesy of Janus Contemporaries, and the results could not be more pleasing. The movie avoids most talking head insights in favor of a more fly-on-the-wall approach with less stable environments. Despite this, all of the footage looks as technically excellent as you can reach in high definition. Janus always delivers a pristine encode and allows the film plenty of room to breathe. It is always a joy to see what they choose to release with such care. There are no signs of compression artifacts or other digital mishaps of the sort.
The film spotlights an array of materials that give you unparalleled access to this world. This relatively recent footage looks incredibly crisp and clear depending on the filming conditions. The documentary has natural color grading and detailed textures within the background of the shop. There are a few instances of supplementary footage that looks pretty decent, as well. Janus Contemporaries has done everything necessary to provide a rich presentation.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a strong DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track in the original Hindi that translates this material exactly as intended. The movie is foremost a series of moments of our subjects speaking with one another, and all of the conversations come through clearly. The other element of this journey is the textured sound design that brings the natural world into your living room. Ambient noises are rendered with precision within the rewarding soundscape. The creative team does a really commendable job of capturing the subjects and making sure all this information comes through with the utmost clarity. The score establishes the mood of the film, and this element is resolved lovingly here as it permeates the room. The audio track proves to be as varied and full of life as you would hope. There are optional English subtitles included for those who desire them.
Special Features
The Janus Contemporaries Blu-Ray of All That Breathes includes a leaflet featuring the essay “All That Breathes: The Simultaneity of Life” by Michael Joshua Rowin in which he provides some good insight into and analysis of the film that helps highlight the deeper themes on display. The on-disc special features are as follows:
- Meet The Filmmakers: A great 18-minute conversation with director Shaunak Sen in which he discusses his first feature film, how he wanted to diverge from what he did before with All That Breathes, the feeling of being boxed into a certain mode of storytelling being from India, why he wanted to document this story, changing up his approach to capturing footage after six months, the “emotional edit” of the feature, and more.
- Trailer: The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here.
Final Thoughts
All That Breathes is a terrific documentary that spotlights the rewarding legacy of our subjects along with the larger environmental crisis that is occurring before our eyes. Through careful documentation of these small moments, audiences are provided with an intimate look at a world that is both fascinating and heartbreaking in different ways. There are moments captured that are unlikely to leave your memory anytime soon. This is one of the better documentaries released in the past few years, and everyone should take the time to seek it out. Janus Contemporaries has provided this film with a Blu-Ray that sports a healthy A/V presentation and a couple of interesting special features. If the subject sounds intriguing to you, be sure to check it out. Recommended
The Janus Contemporaries edition of All That Breathes will be available to purchase on May 28, 2024, on Blu-Ray and DVD.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Janus Contemporaries and The Criterion Collection have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
