Breath

Breath (2023) — watch online on iFILM — is a Russian drama directed by Roman Karimov about a former doctor who walked away from medicine to run a business, then walked back through hospital doors without permission when his mother was admitted with COVID-19.

Viktor (Anton Batyriev) risks arrest to be at her bedside. The ward is overwhelmed — staff are managing the first wave without enough of anything — and he ends up helping where he can, not just watching. Irina Gorbacheva leads the cast alongside Daniil Vorobyov.

Pandemic films that narrow the frame to one family rather than the scale of the crisis are rare. Karimov keeps the drama grounded and Gorbacheva does a lot in the moments when there is very little room to move. Watch Breath online on iFILM.