AllMovie

Fresh Air, which focuses on ordinary moments of everyday life, is an original hybrid of urban comedy and kitchen-sink drama. It is also a realistic depiction of relationships among lovers, friends, and family in the multi-cultural environment of a big city. The protagonists are three thirty-something housemates with artistic aspirations. They have no career, no children, and no substantial income, but they enjoy life. The question is: for how long? Jack is a third-rate filmmaker who has just lost his job, but he does not care because he never enjoyed it anyway. He dreams of being a hero: a fireman, a football player, or perhaps a guitarist in a rock band. He loves racing through town on his motorcycle. On the other hand, his girlfriend Kit is a conscientious pedestrian and an enthusiastic user of public transport. Kit plays the accordion and works part-time in an Asian deli to pay for her painting. Jack and Kit share their house with Kit's best friend E., a part-time student and musician without a job or a band. Director Neil Mansfield, who took six years to write the film, takes a humorous yet sympathetic approach to the dreams, doubts, and pleasures of the so-called Generation X. The use of jump cuts, photographs, and film fragments gives the film the structure of a collage. Fresh Air had its world premiere at the 1999 International Film Festival in Rotterdam.