21 Grams
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Movie Reviews of 21 Grams
Movie Review: "they say you lose 21 grams when you die"
Summary: 5 Stars
21 grams is an underated gem with a splendid cast. It is one of the best movies that I've ever seen and is also one of the most original. It has a brilliant cast including Sean Penn, Benicio Del Torro and Naomi Watts. The acting alone is worth the watch but the movie..wow..
21 grams is a deep movie and will require the watcher's full attention. It won't all make sense until the end because of the way that it is formatted. The movie is so original because it throws random scenes at the screen. One might be from the past..one from the future..etc.. For example, one scene you see Benicio Del Torro in prison, the next in a church, the next as a construcion worker. One scene you see Sean Penn bleeding to death, the next smoking, the next driving his car. Now that's what is so original and genius about the movie...it makes you open your mind and the scipt is brilliantly conceived.
You will be scratching your head at times and be like "what is going on?" because the movie's goal is to connect all of these scenes in the end. It makes you watching till the wonderful conclusion.
There is no need in talking about the plot because that was something that I enjoyed discovering on my own during the movie. It includes vengeance, tragedies, life and death, and change. Some characters go from being happy to depressed and drug users; others change from violent to religious; others go from dying to being saved.
The movie has cruel ironies a plenty and the movie is so powerful that you will be thinking about it for a while. Everything in this movie has a message and a point so pay attention.
21 grams is one of the best movies out there..as well as one of the most tragic. It is a must see and can be comapred to the movie Crash. But 21 grams is a better movie for many reasons. The acting is better in 21 grams as is the originalty and the script. Where Crash has difficulties with unrealism and being corny and cheesy, 21 grams does not as it always stays realistic, original and splendid.
The scene where the boy is using the leaf blower is wonderfully done. To see the car pass by, him drop the leaf blower without showing anything graphic like most movies would..wow. This way is much better and much more powerful. So please watch this gem, one of the best movies out there, a must see.
Movie Review: Art House Gold
Summary: 5 Stars
The technique of this film is fascinating. Basically, the 60 or so scenes of this movie are cut & mixed together semi-sequentially, allowing for dozens of flash-forwards & flashbacks. The effort of building the story out of this collage of scenes mentally disarms the audience, so that when the fragments come together into a solid narrative the climax arrives with uncommon power. The final effect was sublime. I was deeply moved.
In terms of philosophy, I think of this plot as a conflict between two paradigms: One is deterministic - that is, you control your destiny. The second - uncertainty - you are buffeted by random events. Most people with careful thought would allow that both models play a part, but if one gets stuck mentally on one track, then the psyche breaks.
As Guillermo Del Toro's character had put his faith in God, and then he'd been destroyed as, in his mind, God had made him the instrument of death. Or Naomi Watt's being in the same mental point, with her family gone, wanting to then close the circle by pursuing revenge. I.E. - Someone was at fault.
But sometimes there is nobody at fault. Events occur without cause or explanation so the circle can never be closed. But we're hard-wired - we have to try to close the circle.
Naomi wants revenge. Guillermo longs for death as punishment, or is broken in a meaningless existence he cannot understand. Their psychic pain is palpable
This dichotomy is at the heart of the human condition - we can understand chance, or luck, but we cannot mentally accept our complete helplessness.. If we do, other issues begin to surface. What is the meaning of our lives? Is there any, if G-d is so far away and so uncaring? This worldview, the secular Darwinist one, is deeply disquieting and uncomfortable and very few can stomach it for long periods.
The mind produces tricks to avoid these kinds of issues. The Biblical response is the Story of Job - I.E. God works in mysterious ways. I never bought it, but I don't live in a religious worldview anyway. I understand the need. So be it.
Maybe I'm just reading my thoughts into this. These are rich themes and I know I'm just scratching the surface. This is definately worthwhile for fans of existential drama. The waters here run deep.
Movie Review: Gripping, Intense Filmmaking
Summary: 5 Stars
Alejandro Inarritu,'s "21 Grams" is one of the best films of the year. During this movie, I was so completely engrossed in what was ocurring on screen that I never left my chair. They are only two other movies that have had that type of effect on me. "21 Grams" is an intimate meditation on life and death, love and vengeance, directed with intelligence and grace by Inarritu. It also boasts some of the best film acting you'll ever see in one movie.
"21 Grams" is a story told in fragments, and is for the most part not in chronocological order. It tells the tale of three individuals, whose fates are somehow inextricably linked. But how? For almost the entire film, Inarritu keeps you guessing about what brings these three people into the same room together, and that is one reason why "21 Grams" is so effective. It forces you to get involved in the film, investing deeply into the story and the characters.
The second reason to see "21 Grams" is the acting. Sean Penn excels at playing a faithless college professor who is dying and needs a heart transplant. Naomi Watts would have won an Oscar for her performance as a drug-addicted, griefstricken widow if it hadn't been for Charlize Theron's revelatory work in "Monster." Watts builds upon the promise of "Mulholland Drive," crafting a portrait of almost unbearable intensity. After her husband and two young children are killed in a car accident, Watts falls apart, screaming "I am an amputee, can't you see that! I cannot just go on with my life!" She will blow you away. Benecio Del Toro is also outstanding in his portrayal of a born-again ex-convict. He plays a broken-down man, and it shows in the way he carries his body.
Excellent supporting performances are given by Melissa Leo and Charlotte Gainsborough as the wives of Del Toro and Penn. Leo in particular is devestating as she tries to cover up for her husband's crimes. "21 Grams" also features exquisite cinematography. It really is breathtakingly beautiful, especially the very first shot of Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
I highly recommend "21 Grams." It is a brilliantly conceived film, featuring skilled direction and explosive acting from all involved. Not a big moneymaker on its initial release, hopefully now it will find the audience it richly deserves.
Movie Review: One of the five best movies of 2004!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you didn't enjoy Memento or Irreversible because it jumped around and required a lot of concentration on your part, then this movie is not for you. Edited in a non-linear fashion, this movie jumps from scene to scene regardless of suspense. (i.e. Hollywood typically edits movies to follow a linear timeline where it may look like: A, B, C, D, E, and so on. 21 Grams scenes went something like: Q, B, E, A, H, C, W, and so on.)For the first half-hour I was a little lost, and wondered where it was all going. But thinking back on it now, that's just how the characters were feeling, lost and wondering where this is all going, or what this is all leading to. I can equate it to cutting the spine off a book and reading the loose pages at random.
Sean Penn is at the top of his game with this one. He's consistent, and quickly draws you to his side, which is something many actors struggle with. You really start to feel sorry for his character (Paul), but when you see him in the next scene (which happens to be much later in the timeline) he is chiseling away at the image we were just starting to sympathize with.
Naomi Watts plays a distraught widow that just lost her husband and two-daughters to a hit and run driver (don't worry; I'm not spoiling anything here.) She's so good you'll be choked up a few times from her acting alone; very consistent and very convincing.
Benicio Del Toro. Now where should I start? I have often found his over-drawn accent and hair-flipping a bit of a distraction in the past, but in 21 Grams he is on spot. He plays an ex-con, ex-alcoholic, ex- thief, ex-thug that is now a Born Again Christian trying to help other `ex-whatevers' stay on the straight and narrow. His new lifestyle is a bit more than his wife can handle, not to mention those that he is trying to help. (He must have found his character-study in a pastor of a cinderblock bunkhouse in some out-of-town church run by an ex-Hell's Angel, because no one just dreams this kind of character up in their set trailer.)
Great plot, three actors at their best, and an awesome way of editing the movie!
I highly recommend 21 Grams! You'll need to watch it without interruptions and be able to give it your undivided attention; otherwise you'll get lost and then end up not enjoying the movie.
Movie Review: Experimental structure works
Summary: 5 Stars
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu has made a bold film in an innovative style. The movie is not told in a straightforward fashion. There are approximately 40-50 scenes, and they are assembled in a non-linear fashion. It's sort of the cinematic equivalent of tossing 50 pieces of a puzzle onto a table and having to mentally assemble them.
For me, it works. I have read other reviews that weren't that crazy about it. Roger Ebert wrote that the technique got in the way of the story. Other reviewers here have complained either that it made the story "slow" or boring or that they just didn't get it.
I'd have to see the whole film reassembled into chronological order to be able to give an opinion about whether or not the film is better in its presented form or whether it would be improved by being more conventional, but I didn't have any trouble sorting out the various plot-lines in my head as the story unfolded.
Sean Penn gives another memorable performance as a math professor with a congenitally bad heart. We learn that he is less than a month from death unless he gets a transplant. Naomi Watts gives the best performance I've seen yet from this talented actress as a woman who is happily married to an architect with whom she shares two daughters, but we also see that in her past she did more than dabble in drugs. Benicio Del Toro is heartbreakingly good as a man who has lived a hard life and done some hard time before being saved, in the Christian sense. Melissa Leo is his wife, and she shared his hard life before, and plainly hasn't come to terms yet with his conversion as a born-again Christian. All of the main characters intersect in ways that I cannot reveal without spoiling, so I won't.
There are many other supporting performances given by actors who I was not familiar with, and my lack of recognition contributed to my ability to fall into the story. The film brings up many difficult questions, and I think it is one of it's strengths that it does not find easy answers to them.
It's a worthwhile way to spend 2 hours if you want to see strong acting, bravura film-making, and don't mind having to think about what's on the screen.