Inhale (2010)

39% of critics liked it
(23 reviews)
48% of users liked it
(6,426 ratings)

Every day, rising Santa Fe District Attorney Paul Stanton and his wife, Diane, wait for word that there's a donor for their daughter, Chloe. Diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition, Chloe is on a long list to receive a double lung transplant. As her health worsens, Paul becomes desperate to… More Every day, rising Santa Fe District Attorney Paul Stanton and his wife, Diane, wait for word that there's a donor for their daughter, Chloe. Diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition, Chloe is on a long list to receive a double lung transplant. As her health worsens, Paul becomes desperate to save his young child...so desperate that he'll risk everything to organize an operation. When Paul learns of a Dr. Novarro who performs transplants in Juarez, Mexico, he heads south in a frantic search for the only man who may be able to save Chloe. But after arriving, he realizes Dr. Novarro's medical ring runs deep into a criminal underworld where his patients aren't donors - they're victims. With his career, his family and his life on the line, Paul finds himself at a critical crossroads: expose a massive, illegal harvesting operation and save the lives of hundreds of children, or save the life of his daughter. -- (C) IFC Films

Play Trailer

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 23 min.
Directed By: Baltasar Kormákur
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Oct 22, 2010 Limited
On DVD: Jan 25, 2011
Studio: IFC Films

Critic Reviews

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
The film soon traffics in "Babel"-style cultural crises and melodrama. Still, as a tale of parental desperation and the cost of conscience, "Inhale" comes from a thought-provoking place.
Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Milks the very real problem of "organ tourism" for all the melodrama and car chases it's worth.
Stephen Holden, New York Times
Filmed in a semi-documentary style, it fitfully aspires to moral seriousness.
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal
All of the beatings, betrayals and bitter ironies leave a bad taste in your head.
Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times
It takes a while to get there, but Inhale eventually emerges as a tense and morally complex thriller with a devastating twist.
Eric Hynes, Village Voice
Ripped from the headlines and sensationalized for your would-be pleasure, Inhale uses the appalling phenomenon of illegal organ trafficking as the basis for an almost-as-appalling hyperventilated thriller.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
...an inherently compelling premise...
John Esther, UR Chicago Magazine
An action packed film increasingly offering more and larger dilemmas, director Baltasar Kormakur's film sets itself off for one big payoff...
Annlee Ellingson, Moving Pictures Magazine
The film's final moments are still a sock to the gut, but the central dilemma would have been more acute had some of the details been left to imagination.
Avi Offer, NYC Movie Guru
A pedestrian thriller that suffers from implausibility, an overbearing musical score and excessive style over substance.
Michelle Orange, Movieline
Inhale manages little more than a gesture toward untying its bundled moral knots.
Paul Brunick, Slant Magazine
If there's an upside here, it's salt-and-pepper stud Mulroney.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Well-done, exciting and intelligent, that rare thriller with a mind and purpose.
Scott Tobias, AV Club
It's neither remotely convincing as true-to-life drama or lurid and propulsive enough to work as exploitation. It's just bad.
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
How Robert Rodriguez's Machete might have looked played with a straight face ... a silly exploitation thriller that confuses itself for an artful message movie.
JimmyO, iamROGUE
This is not the feel good movie of the year, but it certainly is a potent flick that will have you thinking.
Edward Douglas, ComingSoon.net
Particularly disappointing following Korkakur's exceptional Icelandic work, and it leaves you wondering what whoever financed this movie was inhaling.
Nick Schager, Time Out New York
Illegal organ trafficking is undeniably serious; this tawdry message movie about the subject, however, most unequivocally isn't.

Read all 18 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Cynthia S

A lesson in morality here. Even I was torn between right and wrong at the end of this...and I consider myself a rather good, moral person. Well done. Great acting by all. Dermot Mulroney was fantastic.
Manu G

A couple goes to dangerous lengths to find a lung donor for their daughter. Great Film! Acting was really good from everyone and the story is just gut wrenching and even though it's been done before but never from this perspective/angle. This movie might be short on run time… More
A couple goes to dangerous lengths to find a lung donor for their daughter. Great Film! Acting was really good from everyone and the story is just gut wrenching and even though it's been done before but never from this perspective/angle. This movie might be short on run time but it illustrates this sort of organ trafficking very well as it would have been longer. Easy to the eyes and compelling yet informative.This is the type of film that 10 years ago would have owned the box office but today, they're a gamble. Unless you stick a product name like Russel Crowe or Tom Cruise in it, it's hard to say which way it will go. It also reminds me of how the grading curve has changed due to the collage of genres we know get in a single film which is probably one of many reasons films are now so often struggling at the box office. Wicked ending! In the thriller drama Inhale, up and coming District Attorney Paul Stanton (Dermot Mulroney) is a family man who has built a solid reputation for defending the law. Now in the middle of prosecuting a high-profile sex offender case, he tries to remain focused although he has serious problems of his own. Paul and his wife Diane (Diane Kruger) have one daughter, Chloe (Mia Stallard), who has been diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease. She needs a double lung transplant, but there are many patients ahead of her on the waiting list for donors. But when news arrives that Chloes condition has worsened, Dr. Rubin (Rosanna Arquette), tells them that it is beyond their ability to save Chloe's life, but she also tells them that if they have money, there is another way for them to find a lung donor. Stunned with the possibility of having to break the law to save their daughter's life, Paul, contacts his friend James Harrison (Sam Shepard) for advice. Harrison tells him that he has information about a mysterious Dr. Navarro (Vincent Perez) who performs transplants in Tijuana, Mexico, but warns him that pursuing this course could cost him everything; his reputation, career and possibly even his life as well as the life of his daughter. Confused and frantic, Paul and Diane decide to take the risk to find this doctor if there is a chance they can save Chloes life. Their journey takes them across the border to Mexico and into the dangerous territory of the underworld. Paul's search brings him face to face with the corrupt police officer Aguilar (Jordi Mollá) and the discovery that Dr. Navarro is connected to an illegal organ harvesting operation where the donors are in reality victims. Paul finds himself caught in a desperate situation of choosing between saving the life of his daughter or exposing the criminal activity that could save the lives of hundreds of children.
Brian D

A interesting movie with a good performance from the ever underrated Dermot Mulroney. The movie runs along at a steady pace and as a powerful story to tell. In the end it leave you with the question of would you do the same for a love one or your children. It was this that mad the… More
A interesting movie with a good performance from the ever underrated Dermot Mulroney. The movie runs along at a steady pace and as a powerful story to tell. In the end it leave you with the question of would you do the same for a love one or your children. It was this that mad the impact for me and stayed with me for a while.. PS Diane Kruger was great but not use enough!!

Cast

            Mia Stallard as Chloe

            Dermot Mulroney as Paul

            Diane Kruger as Diane

            Sam Shepard as James Harrison

            Vincent Perez as Dr. Martinez

            Jordi Molla as Aguilar

            Rosanna Arquette as Dr. Rubin

            David Selby as Henry White

            Cesar "Cheeser" Ramos as Ines

            Kristyan Ferrer as Miguel

            Arlin Alcala as Centro Medico Juarez Receptionist

            Juan Avila Hernandez as Camaronito

            Nick Banks as Dr. Sullivan

            Richard Barela as Hotel Clerk

            Daniel Barela as Used Car Salesman

            Maria Bethke as Clinica Castillo Receptionist

            Paul Blott as Judge Jack Abrahams

            Mark Brooks as Stunt

            Todd Thacher Cash as Scotty

            Abraham Chaidez as Luis Ruiz

            Eduardo Ambriz DeColosio as Chepe Eduardo

            Christian Escario as General #1

            Louie Franco as Biker

            J.D. Garfield as Translator

            Carolyn Harvey as Old Flower Vendor

            Rafael Herrera as Surgeon

            Judy Herrera as Claudia

            Lisa M. Hill as Strip Club Waitress

            Jiji Hise as Mother Car Crash

            Rick Lamlonda as Prison Guard

            Celestia Loeffler as EMT

            Nathalie Marciano as Carol Harrison

            Quinn Mason as Son in Car Crash

            Kahlil Mendez as Tico

            Gabriel Merendon as Diego

            Angelique Midthunder as Stunt

            Nevarez Juarez as Gordo Adalberto

            Nieve Larricio as Marta Kim

            Elmer Pacheco as Scraggly Dude

            Jesus Payan, Jr. as Obese Man

            Walter Perez as Arturo

            Greta Quezada as Clinica Nurse Castillo

            Tamara Rose as Harrison's Secretary

            Manny Rubio as Juan

            Kat Sawyer as UNOS Rep

            Kevin Scott as Stunt Coordinator

            Kieran Sequoia as TV Reporter

            Kisha Sierra as Aguilar's Secretary

            James Tarwater as Matt Peckinsky

            Paco Vallejos as Priest Francisco

            Sharon Van Ivan as Hospital Administrator

            Joe Adams as FBI Agent
See full cast