Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (AMORES
PERROS) directs this staggeringly intense drama concerning three families
whose lives fatefully intertwine through a series of tragic events. With
jumbled chronology that jumps from one shocking event to the next in an
increasingly chaotic maelstrom, 21 GRAMS is relentlessly gritty in its
content and its aesthetics. The title refers to the amount of weight that
a human body loses at the moment death arrives, but the story begs the
question How much is gained? Paul (Sean Penn) has less than a month to
live, stalled on the waiting list for a heart transplant, and his wife
(Charlotte Gainsbourg) is determined to get pregnant with his child before
it's too late. Meanwhile, Cristina (Naomi Watts) is a happy mother with a
loving husband and two daughters but she loses her family in an instant to
an unpredictable accident. Finally, Jack (Benicio Del Toro) is an ex-con
and born-again Christian struggling to support his wife and two children
while battling his own guilty conscience. When these three parties come
together, explosively, they make each other behave in impulsive, violent,
and destructive ways. 21 GRAMS takes viewers on a jolting journey through
sickness, suffering, morality, revenge, and last but not least, the
sometimes welcome peace of death. This movie screened in October 2003 as
part of the 41st New York Film Festival organized by the Film Society of
Lincoln Center.
"...Inarritu cements his reputation as
a boldly talented filmmaker with his first English-language project, 21
GRAMS..."
"...It's a startlingly crafted movie,
with several extraordinary performances..."
"...The film is full of engagingly
high-strung performances..."
"...There are few movie pleasures as
satisfying as an actor soaring to meet the challenge of his or her gift.
It's a pleasure that's delivered threefold in 21 GRAMS..."
"...That Inarritu shapes something
redemptive out of blasted lives is proof that he is a filmmaker of rare
and startling grace..."
"...[A] complex, time-fractured
narrative....The most shattering performance comes from Naomi
Watts..."
"This is cinematic art in its highest
form."
Theatrical Release: November 21, 2003
(NY/LA)
"[T]he film is a virtuoso
accomplishment of construction and editing."
"Inarritu remains primarily a poet of
the visible world..."
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