21 Grams
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Movie Reviews of 21 Grams
Movie Review: The Ramifications of a Hit-and Run Brought Forcefully to Life in Iñárritu's Time-Juggling Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
Filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu's penchant for non-linear chronology in his cinematic storytelling is perhaps at its most heightened in this powerful 2003 drama. Having seen the other two superb films in his trilogy meditating on death, 1999's "Amores Perros" set in his native Mexico and last year's ambitiously international "Babel", I fully expected Iñárritu and screenwriter Guillermo Arriago to deliver something as audacious. Indeed they have with a gritty, heartfelt look at three disparate lives brought together by a single twist of fate and how each copes uniquely with the aftermath. Executed with even greater abandon than the other two films, the sequencing of plot developments in "21 Grams" is initially confusing, but the out-of-kilter pacing actually fits the jagged contours of the desultory story which deals with the unpredictability of life.
The relentlessly downbeat tone can get wearing at least until the plot threads start to come together with greater force in the last third. The plot follows three people facing deeply personal challenges - Paul Rivers, an academic awaiting a donor for a life-saving heart transplant, as his impatient, English-born wife wants his sperm to have a baby by artificial insemination; Jack Jordan, an ex-con and born-again Christian struggling to keep a job to support his wife and two kids; and Cristina Peck, a happily devoted wife and mother who has a history of drug problems. Their lives intersect through a hit-and-run which results in fatalities and burgeoning flows of anger, guilt and resentment. Brief, time-juggled snippets of their individual lives are interspersed with obviously later scenes when the three come together under dire circumstances. Divulging any more of the story - which was apparently filmed chronologically despite the final editing - would dampen the propulsive dynamics generated by the constant second-guessing by the viewer.
Fortunately, the three principals act with such fervent commitment to their characters that it is hard not to be compelled by the film in its entirety. In the most subdued performance of the trio, Sean Penn effectively plays Rivers as a dying man hoping to find some level of redemption for second chance he gets, often reacting with quiet force to the actions occurring around him. As Jack, Benicio del Toro is unafraid to exhibit the character's ugly side while sharply conveying his inability to cope with what he sees as his accountability in the tragic event. With a series of bravura moments, Naomi Watts lends palpable ferocity and a liberating lack of vanity to Cristina's inner torment. There are a couple of sideline performances worth noting as well - Charlotte Gainsborough as Paul's insular wife Mary and especially Melissa Leo as Jack's tough-minded, self-protecting wife Marianne.
The film has an intentionally bleached-out look thanks to Rodrigo Prieto's atmospheric cinematography, but the most impressive achievement is the filmmakers' insightful presentation of complex, multi-layered characters in ways that make these even their more unsavory actions understandable. Unfortunately, the original 2004 DVD offers no extras, but the 2006 Collector's Edition DVD does include the theatrical trailer and an interesting behind-the-scenes featurette, "21 Grams in Fragments", which spends a lot of time on the director's fascination with death and his motivation in making the film.
Movie Review: PHENOMINAL
Summary: 5 Stars
If there was ever a film that needed to be championed and heralded it is this film."21 Grams" is an impressive display of the power of film. It goes back in time to when stories were told of ordinary people in REAL extraordinary circumstances. It is a heartwrenching story wrought with moral and ethical dillemas and great tradedy between 3 characters from 3 different walks of life who are destined to be intertwined. The movie is tense from start to finish and reveals itself with a cinematic approach NEVER before utilized. Every scene is in itself nothing less than enigmatic. Yet the scenes are linked in a sort of emotive linear fashion to express the feeling rather than progress any plot heavy hollywood-esqe story line along.
This film does not insult the audience member, it does not lead you by the nose along a path that's easily recognizable being careful not to suprise you. With this emotionally impactful methodology used in linking the scenes it is universally understandable and completely identifiable with characters who's rare cirmstances do not come off as far fetched or contrived like so many other films. The events that effect them are simply raw, even in their subjectivity and display a magnitude that simply can not be ignored even by the most disfuntionally inattentive audience.
"21 Grams" wastes no time hiting you with these powerful dillemas usually too touchy to approach by even todays conventional standards. They happen with the "deus ex machina" force that reitterates our powerlessness in the universe. The director does not pander to the audiences expectations and he does not sugar-coat one moement. He simply shows it for what it is and the reality is very grizzly.
In the hands of a lesser talent "21 Grams" could very easily fall on it's face and make a mockery out of such life-altering and life-ending events left to be easily critisized and subsequently dismissed. Such films are ear-marked as fodder left to a mundane shelf life on video. "21 Grams" transcends that stereotype with grace and dignity and finds itself a success beyond sucess on all levels. It's a movie well worth seeing in the theatre and it's a movie that hopefully will not be ignored come Academy time.
I personally am not in the habbit of championing mediocre art films with some sort of cause or agenda. I know there are many who simply see independant movies like fashion and give them credence by virtue of the fact that they are different whether they work or not. And the other three-quarters of America may, by virtue of it's content, glibly put this on that art film shelf. "21 Grams" does not deserve such a title because it is simply NOT THAT. It stands in a catagory undefined and unique to itself. More poignant than Sodoberg's acclaimed "TRAFFIC" it should be marketed with the same critical ferver than gets mass audiences to sit in the theatre and see. It can be appreciated by anyone who's ever gone through a very hard life experiance and can be respected and learned from by those who are lucky enough to have not.
This film is a 10 on the scale, gets an A+ for it's intelligence and abilities. IT is a power-house that makes going to the movies an eye-opening experiance rarely experienced since the onset of the tech-inspired uber-commercialized posturing of our new millenium.
Movie Review: The Weight of the Soul
Summary: 5 Stars
My life's been awash in the pull of momentous turning tides, and I've faced countless daunting crises- The moment was boasting nighttime and quite frigid, (-7, actually: well amid the depths of one of the harshest Midwest winters immemorial). I went alone to see this film. Riveted to the screen, I was witness to raw nature and circumstance; I was witness to stark fate. Driving home the premise that it's pure ordained destiny that both joins human souls and tears them from each other, this movie is just devastating. Yet I had already sensed that this would be one of those rare films that tend to disturb the senses to a degree that sets the mind to thinking - haunting one's days and nights for weeks and months to come. Yes, by my troth I do live dangerously!
21 GRAMS tells the story of three troubled yet essentially good people whose lives become deeply connected through a horrific accident: Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), an unhappily married and terminally ill mathematician who's in desperate need of a heart transplant - Christina Peck (Naomi Watts), a former drug addict who's since become wife of an architect and mother of two children - and Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), a former convict become a born-again Christian, who's rebuilding his life with his wife, Marianne (Melissa Leo), and their two little children. One fateful evening on the way home, Jack's truck collides with Christina's husband, Michael (Danny Huston), and her two daughters- killing all three. Paul then gets an 11th-hour reprieve from death - as he becomes the recipient of Michael's heart. While he recovers from the transplant, he becomes obsessed with finding, and then getting to know, Christina- the living victim of the devastating tragedy that had served to give him this new lease on life. Meanwhile, Jack is tortured and wracked by guilt - he had panicked and left the scene of the accident. Despite the pleading protests of his wife, he turns himself in to police. (Melissa Leo. incidentally, is excellent as Jack's devoted & strong-willed wife, who in one scene is worked up into a passion reminiscent of Shakespeare's Lady MacBeth). It's the three leads, in fact, who turn out one of the most intense, outstanding dramatic performances by a cast I've ever seen. Penn, Toro, and Watts each put forth heart-wrenching depictions of grief, despair, love and rage. They were riveting to watch.
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is at the helm of this film, and he deserves significant credit too. The movie's shot with a sort of raw, gritty and real-to-life imagery, but sequenced non-chronologically and without much music. Furthermore, there's quite a lot of grainy artifact and symbolism present, harshly imbuing the sounds, the words and the images with an ominous gloom. It might indeed be easy to fathom that any film with such qualities embedded would ultimately surmount to a rather morose, distracting, and basically disjointed mess. Yet somehow this film's neither imposingly heavy nor wholly depressing. On the contrary, 21 GRAMS is a subtly beautiful, powerfully atmospheric, and hypnotically captivating work of art~
Movie Review: Powerful and Interesting film
Summary: 5 Stars
21 grams is the kind of movie that makes you contemplate your own life and existence, and forces you to ponder the the meaning and interconnectedness of life itself. The movie sports a not-too complicated and jaw-droppingly ironic plot. The death of a man and his two children brings the lives of 3 people together in an odd and tragic turn of events. The really unique thing about the movie I felt was the way in which it was shot. Scenes from the movie are not only displayed out of chronological order, but scattered throughout the length of the movie in a seemingly random order. This was sheer briliance. It's also why you might find the plot a little hard to follow and a bit confusing at first. You'll constantly be asking which one was that, who was that guy, what just happened, where did that come from. For me this served two purposes: one it kept the movie very interesting and in deed captivating from begining to end (the movie would probably have felt more slow and dry if done traditionaly), two it almost seems like a metaphor for life. An illustration of what the movie is all about and trying to say. Sequences of scenes often make no sense untill later on, just as in life you often dont understand what happened untill looking back and connecting all the dots. Also the constant feeling of confusion and randomness does well to push the point that life just seems to happen and no one really knows what's going on or what's connected.
The style of the shooting also does a great job of making you feel as if you arent watching a movie, but rather are just witnessing glimpses of moments of the actual lives of these people, scattered and momentarily incoherent untill finally we see how it's all connected. This really was fantastic I thought and very effective.
The emotional impact is also extremely noteworthy. The movie studies how odd the events in life are, and how cruel life can be. Grief is one of the prime components of the film and the examination of how every action in the world bares a reaction. The events in the movie will often leave you just sitting there silent looking at the screen with a knot in your gut. Anyone who has experienced pain and loss will relate in a most personal way.
The acting for this film was also excellent throughout. The whole cast did a great job, and the performances are not just believable but inspired.
Most of all 21 grams pushes the point that we are all just kind of floating along through life, bumping into each other and being either victim or benefactor to a never ending line of factors that are beyond our control. is it fate, destiny, or the plan of some divine diety that puts us where we are, or is the universe just meaningless and we are all merely billiard balls randomly bumping into one another. 21 Grams examines, but offers no real answer to all these questions, and will at very least provide for some interesting conversation afterwards.
If you're the type of person who likes phillosophy, or enjoys a well-done artistic movie about life that really makes you think, then this movie is for you.
Movie Review: Deeply compassionate view of human life
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree with the person who said she couldn't understand how someone would give this a low rating. If movies are just for entertainment, this is clearly not for you. But if you want to deal with the human condition, it is. I had to see it twice to appreciate it completely, and of course it takes some endurance to do so. It had me bawling for days.
I think Arriaga intended some very deep symbolism here. Sean Penn's character appears to be a "Christ figure" in the movie. Towards the end, he grabs a gun and shoots himself while Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro are fighting on the other side of the room. If he had done what we would normally expect and shot Benicio del Toro, the signs of reconciliation that we can detect near the end of the movie would not have been
possible. He and Christina (Naomi Watts) would have spent the rest of the film running from the law or otherwise trying to hide the fact that they'd killed him, and, I suppose, justifying the act to themselves
because "he deserved it." But as it is, there is room for reconciliation at the end because of what Sean Penn does.
I'll admit that my idea that there's reconciliation might seem doubtful to some of you. The reason I think there's a bit of reconciliation is that in one of the very last shots of the film, while the narrative
voice-over is on, you see Christina turn to Benicio del Toro while he speaks to her. I think that in a film like this, written by someone like Guillermo Arriaga, there is reason to read even small details like that in such an optimistic way. And actually, because the film is giving us what we could call a "God's-eye view" of these people's lives, the exact degree of Christina's reconciliation with Benicio del Toro's character is not that important. What is important is that Arriaga has shown us there is potential for reconciliation.
And as you might guess, I interpret Christina's pregnancy at the end as being a sort of resurrection. She lost her family, and Sean Penn's love has given her another one. At the very end, you see her in her daughters'
bedroom, cradling her pregnant abdomen and holding one of her daughter's stuffed animals. Earlier in the film, she had said she could not bear to step into their room.
I also wonder if Arriaga intended Penn's wife to be a sort of representation of Law, given that she's always trying to "manage" his life and get him to do sensible things like not smoking. Much of what she
demands seems sensible, but in the context of his life, it doesn't seem to work. And you might notice that later, when he attempts to get Christina to stop using drugs, he is more understanding of her position
than his wife had been of his. What finally gets her to stop using drugs (I assume) is the new life he has given her, rather than someone browbeating her.