Movies / TV-series

“Breaking Surface” – My review….2 videos and much more!

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After a really long time of waiting for this movie, I was finally able to see it last Thursday.

I could have seen it already but I wanted a full HD picture and a language I can actually understand.

The german blu-ray has the original language on it (Swedish) and a german language option of course. You can switch on german subtitles as well.

I watched the movie in german once and watched the underwater scenes again a day later with original Swedish audio and German subtitles.

The movie has a runtime of 82 minutes. At least 40(!) minutes of that is placed underwater! You won’t find many movies that can offer that….especially with female divers.

And it’s pretty unique because there are actually no sharks or other creatures in it like in the horror flicks (examples: “47 meters down” and “47 meters down – Uncaged”).

It’s a survival movie. Two sisters fight to survive a really bad situation underwater.

Ida (Moa Gammel)
Tuva (Madeleine Martin)

Also, after 9 minutes in….you won’t find a single man in the whole rest of the movie! As far I can remember that happens only in one other movie I have in my movie collection: “The Descent”, where 6 women explore a cave system and encounter some monsters there. I know quite a lot of movies with no women in them (mostly war movies) but the other way around is a rare thing.

The fact that there are over 40 minutes of underwater scenes in the movie is awesome but turns out to be kind of problematic for this post. I won’t show all of them of course. But which scenes should I present here?

Also I don’t wanna show scenes with major spoilers to the story here.

Today in this post I wanna present two scenes to motivate you to buy and watch this movie. More on that….later.

For now, let’s start with….

Scene 1!

Preview:

Checking the ship’s propellers…
…now the bow trusters…
Wanna guess what happens next? 😉

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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A nice peril scene for starters! Even it was pretty predictable….and hard to understand what the idiots on the bridge were doing as it was known that she was working down there.

A good idea of her to get rid of her tank to jam the propeller, as it was pretty much her only option besides waiting for those idiots to turn it off. But then it might have been too late….

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Scene 2

Tuva, the younger sister is trapped behind a rock at 32 meters depth! Her oxygen is gone and Ida hastily returns to her with a full tank…

 

Preview:

Her tank is totally empty….Tuva needs air quickly!!
Ida…
…has switched back to her full face dive mask

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Great scenes! It’s no secret that I really like scuba peril scenes. And seeing both of them here in desperate need of air….is quite …well….sexy 😉

Also, the swapping with their full-face dive masks and their “normal” scuba masks is also interesting! I normally like full-face dive masks, but I must say this Ocean Reef mask with the fully transparent faceplate isn’t so attractive in comparison to other masks like the Interspiro mask that Tania Raymonde is using in Deep Blue Sea 3.

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Now back to the movie in general.

It has some flaws, no doubt. The scene above with Ida looking for that oxygen tank for example.

She is without air for around 130 seconds! She is not a professional diver like her little sister and isn’t a really good athlete or in great shape. I hardly doubt that she could hold her breath that long while being in such a stressful situation. Her sister is trapped, she is without air, searching for that oxygen tank in the darkness. She gets lost for a while and yet is pretty calm as she finally reaches Tuva again…

I would have shortened that scene. Let her dive without air for 60 seconds and then swim back on the brick of total panic. That would be more dramatic and more realistic in that case. Yes, there are apnoe divers that can go on much longer without air….but Ida isn’t one, she is highly stressed and not in a condition to stay without air that long.

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Another thing is that tank she is searching for. I checked the scenes several times and can’t explain where it is coming from. It appeared out of nowhere! Where did Ida get that from?

Spoiler title
They start with their tanks on the dive. 2 tanks are lost due to the rock slide. 2 tanks are in the car. That leaves 4 usable tanks. Both swap their tanks once and that tank is suddenly there as well. Really odd…..

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Also, a big rock falls on Tuva. She is trapped under it but isn’t hurt at all!? I guess that is ….possible…but damn, a “little” hard to buy. But in the end, it has to be like that so that the story could develop like it does.

There are one or two other aspects but I don’t wanna sound too negative.

 

All in all it is a really good, thrilling movie! The desperate atmosphere is suspenseful and I tried to come up with solutions myself as Ida is trying to free her sister from down below! And as I said, more than 40 minutes of underwater scenes with women in one movie is pretty unique, especially without CGI sharks or other monsters.

Both actresses did a really good job and did most of the underwater scenes themselves after they both learned to scuba dive for the movie as I heard from an interview with the director (on the Blu-ray).

Ok, the drysuits aren’t exactly attractive, but well it’s Norway and not the Caribbean. Also, the darkness below at over 30 meters adds to the grim survival-fight-atmosphere. It wouldn’t work that well in a bright, beautiful setting like in the Bahamas for example.

Folks, I can only recommend this movie to you! This movie belongs in every collection of someone who likes survival movies OR scuba movies OR movies with female divers OR movies with scuba peril scenes.

So folks, ORDER this movie. BUY this movie!

Such movies must be supported, so other producers would make movies with scuba scenes too!

Scuba scenes are expensive, many producers are afraid of doing them.

This year there were two new movies with great scuba scenes…I hope that is a new trend!

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The German Blu-ray has some extras:

  • Trailer (pretty useless as you see that before you watch the movie)
  • an automated picture “show” with music (end credits song)
  • an interview with the director (16 minutes, interesting!)

I had hoped for a “Behind the scenes” feature as well…but no luck.

Oddly enough I am sure I saw such a video floating around the web some months ago. It was rather short but interesting and showed the filming in a water tank.

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….so, this post is long enough now…

I will post more about this movie another time.

I have some story ideas of my own on this one. 😉

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Have you seen it already?

What do you think of it?

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An astronaut goes….DIVING! [2 videos + a BONUS video]

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In these videos, you will see something that you won’t see that often….a female astronaut that dives! And also a female safety diver as a bonus!

I watched this new movie with french audio and English subtitles.

They speak French, English, German and Russian in that movie. 4 languages in one movie…that was new to me.

I do understand English, German, and a little french, but unfortunately, the scenes where they speak Russian were only translated in hardcoded french subtitles like in the videos below.

Looking forward to seeing a version in one language without any subtitles 😆

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Let’s start with the first underwater scene of the movie!

Preview:

The astronaut!
And the female….
…sadety diver!

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Well, her task is obviously to get her male buddy in that capsule in a short time, while he is (playing) unconscious.

Quite a good scene! In her spacesuit, she is very much restricted and can’t move around like a scuba diver. But she gets the job done just in time!

And this was just the first scene….there is another one with some….peril!

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Scene 2

Preview:

Again she is…
…training UW!
But something is WRONG!

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Quite a nice peril scene!

Eva Green is a great actress and looks great as an astronaut!

Actually, I’m not sure why she passed out. Was something wrong with the oxygen supply? Was it part of the training? Or was she just overworked and tired?

Of course with all the safety divers, she wasn’t in real danger here.

However an effective training for astronauts to simulate some situations that could happen in space.

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This video gave me an idea for a perilous scenario for an underwater fight:

Imagine that there would be only one safety diver (female). That diver wants to drown the astronaut for some reason! They fight underwater!

The diver looks for a way to sabotage the oxygen supply or to cut her suit open….while the astronaut tries to fight back with some training gear.

Another scenario that needs to be filmed!!!

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Exclusively on the blog, here is a bonus scene from the movie:

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Quite a nice scene.

Always nice to see a woman using an oxygen mask (or gas mask)!

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This is the movie (by the way…Eva Green presents her “twins” several times during the movie…):

IMDB-link

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P.S.:

In 4 days I will get the german Blu-ray of Breaking surface!

Looking forward to it BIG time! 🙂

Will post about it next week….

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Scuba couple gets trapped in a wreck! [Flipper]

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[2nd post for today]

This time a scuba couple gets trapped in a wreck as they are on a treasure hunt.

But rescue isn’t far away in form of 2 divers (one female). So we have 2 frogwomen in this one!

Preview:

We are trapped!
And surprise! The tanks are way beyond the 50 bar safety minimum! Oh man…. #cliche
Someone needs air!
What have we got from the wreck?

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Yeah, a solid “trapped underwater with a 99% depleted tank” scenario 😉

I wonder why everyone is so reckless before they get trapped underwater? Both should have been out of the wreck long before they did.

They were very lucky that help was already on the way.

But it is a good scene and having 2 frogwomen in it doesn’t hurt either 😉

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Wanna know from which episode this is?

IMDB-link

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Feel welcome to leave a comment!

What do you think of that scene?

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Jessica Alba trapped underwater! [+Bonus video][Flipper]

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Time for more scuba action from (the newer) Flipper TV show!

In the first video, Jessica Alba dives around to find some treasure….but soon she gets trapped as her dive buddy is very reckless!

And…of course….her air is already 99% depleted as it happens! Surprise!

Preview:

Here they are scuba diving…
“No! Stop, you moron!” she signals him
Nothing you should ever see underwater!

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Nothing special, but a nice “out of air” scenario with Jessica Alba in her youth!

Picture quality could be better, but keep in mind that this show was never released in HD or even on a DVD.

Hopefully, that will change someday.

 

IMDB-link to the episode:

IMDB-link

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I got a bonus scene for you from another episode, to show that modern wetsuits can be sexy:

*EDIT* Now in the correct aspect ratio….

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Yeah ok, the show is from the ’90s but that suit is the era of modern wetsuits already.

I really like that smooth skin wetsuit, even I would prefer it to actually have sleeves.

But the smooth skin texture is very sexy for me as it is the closest nowadays we can get to the epic vintage rubber wetsuits 😉

And the fact that she “strips” down to her bikini doesn’t hurt as well….

 

IMDB-link to the episode:

IMDB-link

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What do you think of these scenes?

Feel welcome to leave a comment!

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The female record-pilot and her deadly mistake(?) [oxygen mask]

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Yeah, I know, this post isn’t about scuba diving at all…but from time to time I like to post about other breathing devices too.

The movie to which these scenes belong is by far the oldest which I ever posted about…it’s from 1933!

The chances are big I never would have stumbled upon this one if not a friendly user had recommended it to me.

I watched the whole movie and this scene was the dramatic finale!

It’s important to know the story behind it:

A woman becomes a pilot in an era where women weren’t “supposed” like that. She gets into an affair with a married man and ends badly.

She thinks about him as she tries to get the world record flight altitude title.

Preview:

Time to put on that oxygen mask!
(…a very early version)
Now she is in trouble!

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Well, that happens when you are without oxygen for too long…..

She was thinking about the tragic love of her life and pulled off her oxygen mask perhaps without thinking about the danger.

I love that moment as she realizes how badly she needs her oxygen mask again.

Hastily she tries to get it back on, but too late….she gets unconscious and the plan gets out of control.

The actress is actually is Katharine Hepburn who was 26 when this movie came out!

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Ok, hard to say how realistic that scene is, as she is only without oxygen for some moments. I think it might actually take a bit longer from what I read.

However, this peril scene is quite unique! Never saw that type of oxygen mask and a woman passing out in such a scene…. that’s certainly something new for me!

And the moment from which she realizes her error until she tries hastily to get her mask back on….that’s quite thrilling for me. It seems that for a second she forgot where her oxygen mask is. Hard to say if that was in the script or not.

However, she is in great distress as she tries to get the mask back on.

 

*EDIT*

A second theory is that she wanted to kill herself. She had some seconds thought about it….but too late……

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This is the movie title:

IMDB-link

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What do you think of that scene?

Leave a comment below!

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Greek frogwoman trapped in a net! [+special cut bonus video]

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I know about this scene for quite a while but haven’t posted it here so far.

A nice guy asked if I would know it and now, I wanna make a post about it.

Here we have the two scuba scenes of the movie.

In the first one, a young couple dives around…each on their own(!), and soon the guy gets into trouble…

In the main scene at the end of the movie they are diving again, and this time the frogwomen gets into trouble….big trouble!

Preview:

A happy diver-couple!
She gets into…..
….trouble! She is trapped in a net!

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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Sorry, but that is actually the best picture quality available for this rare greek movie.

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Well…..I would say….WOW! And not really a good wow…. 😆

They have a gorgeous woman in a solid wetsuit. She dives into a net. A good scenario!

But so many aspects here are really badly done….

First the music: Sounds like a madman on drugs playing some most annoying sounds on his electric keyboard. I get headaches from that…..

And there are so many logic plotholes I don’t know where to start!

Ok, why the happy couple is always diving each on their own….I don’t know….pretty reckless, but ok, not unlogical at least.

Two times she reaches for her knife more or less, why doesn’t she get it???? She isn’t so trapped that she couldn’t reach it.

I guess her tank is supposed to be empty at one point but she is exhaling all the time through her mouthpiece on regular basis. When is she supposed to be out of air?

Of course, it’s the usual theme: when a diver is trapped he/she has only a few % of air left…. oh man.

Why are they cutting SO often (in way too long scenes) to him setting on these rocks???? That interrupts way too often her dramatic scenes.

He decides that she may be in trouble so starts looking for her. Good idea! But why is he diving as slow as a 100-year-old grandma? The love of your life seems to be in trouble… man! She is diving alone and her tank must be pretty empty!!!! You should HURRY….a bit at least….

Often it seems like she isn’t really trapped in the net as it is floating pretty high above the ground. It looks like she even could reach the surface sometimes.

He finally finds her! And what does he do??? He starts yanking on the net! ARGGGGGGGGHHHHHH

Perhaps she needs air???? You could give her some!!!! You also have a knife! Use it, damn it!

All the time she is still conscious and kicking. Just before they reach the surface she doesn’t move anymore. Is he sharing his air with her? NOOOO, still he does nothing like that.

They reach the surface, she still has the regulator in her mouth, which would be very unusual for someone out of air….

But what then? Does he give her mouth to mouth? No, she pushes and pulls a little on her!!!?! Ok, I know that mouth to mouth rescue isn’t a very old technique. And there were older ones before that.

But good god, he moves so slowly! So very slowly …like she would be a puppet on a first aid exercise….no rush….she isn’t breathing…but take your time.

Then she is seemingly conscious for some seconds….but quickly dies afterward??????

And he is still very relaxed… maybe he is thinking: “what the hell, my beloved is dead now….well, then I can go home now and make dinner”.

WHAT???? Who comes up with all that madness?

I guess the screenwriter/director was as mad as the music composer.

Ok, I admit I haven’t seen the full movie as it is in greek language. But so much is going wrong in this final dive scene which could have been so much better!

 

*EDIT* Here are some background news I got from the nice guy who reminded me about this movie:

The translate of the title is “that summer”. She is scuba teacher but has cancer as the script says. Althought decided to dive with her ex husband. At the second dive she didn’t felt ok underwater because of her illness and finally died. For this reason her ex husband didn’t do her anything to save her.

 

Well, there you can see how important a background story can be to understand this weirdness better.

But still, I am convinced of many of the things I wrote above.

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For you folks I edited the final scene to a much BETTER version …with an open ending (blog exclusive):

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The title of the movie is already in the video…but here is the IMDB page:

IMDB-link

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So, what do you think of all of that?

Leave a comment!

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Frogwoman gets stuck underwater….and finds gold treasure!

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I stumbled upon this flick by accident more or less. It has one good scuba peril scene and some more diving scenes with a female scuba diver.

I added one more scuba scene of her to the peril scene.

Preview:

She could dive around but she decides to dive through the narrow passage….
No more….
….air left!!!

(click to enlarge)

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Here is the video:

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A solid peril scene. Of course, she is out of air as soon she gets trapped.

There seems to be a hidden rule for getting trapped underwater in a movie. If you get trapped your gauge MUST be in the red section. 😆

Perhaps she didn’t deserve it, but she risked a lot by diving through that tight space, especially as she had countless other possibilities.

I like these silver vintage regulators, that was a nice bonus.

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The movie title can be found right at the start, but if you missed it:

IMDB-title

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What do you think of these scenes?

You are welcome to leave a comment!

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The frogwoman who enjoyed being in the water a little….too much

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This one is on my radar for ages since it was recommended to me at least twice. Thanks a lot, folks!

Well, I’m not too excited about these scenes, but I’m sure that others will love these scenes.

A woman learns how to scuba dive in two scenes. In a third scene, she dives somehow too….but not as you may think 😉

Preview:

Sharing air!
She enjoys her dive!
Well, that doesn’t look very relaxed….

(click to enlarge)

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And here is the video:

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The scenes where she is in the pool are nice, but nothing spectacular.

The struggle in the final scene is quite….interesting, of course, I would have preferred her to wear her scuba gear…but well…no luck.

But the idea of her having second thoughts about killing herself and then struggling to survive her own death trap….was well done!

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Wanna know from which movie this is from?

IMDB-link

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What do you think of these scenes?

Leave your comment below!

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