21 Grams
Matinee and Snacks
As one of my companions wisely noted, it takes a village to watch
this movie. This is not a film for a passive movie watcher - the
first 40 minutes is very demanding in terms of puzzling out the
narrative. Structurally, it's like each scene was assigned a number
and then the editors threw all the numbers up in the air in a
cinematic 52-card pickup game. First this character is here, then he
is in the hospital, then he is fine, then he is far less than fine,
but with a different womanŠand that is just one of the three plot
lines which dance and bob and interweave and ultimately connect. It
is this ultimate connection that makes the difficulties of the first
third of the film so rewarding. Once you figure out the major plot
points then the movie seems to slow down; after concentrating so hard
now you are hypersensitive to any new information. The movie
completely sucks you in and even as it answers questions, new ones
arise, but it is never frustrating.
Sean Penn plays a different character than we have seen him do for a
while, much more subdued and hangdog and low status, and as always,
he is deeply believable. Benicio Del Toro is an over-characterized
Jesus freak ex-con, and Naomi Watts is a woman who, as she is slowly
revealed in the film, I'll just say is very real and powerful to
watch. I don't want to deprive you of the pleasure of discovering
everything for yourself. These three main actors are so wildly
divergent in acting style and flavor and their characters come from
such different places; when they meet in the crossroads of their
stories, there is no other way for it to happen.
Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, who also directed Mexico's
entry in September 11, 21 Grams is a metaphor tucked behind a story.
The conceit of 21 grams is not revealed until the end of the movie,
and I can tell you this, because it ruins nothing - we all supposedly
lose exactly 21 grams of mass at the exact moment of our death. His
thesis with regards to the deeper meaning of this final weight loss
is played out very sparingly in the plot and then driven home for us
in the last moments.
You might notice some interesting edits within scenes, like a simple
scene of talking would have a shot of a person at this angle, and
then the next cut their head is in a slightly different place. This
was not a continuity problem, though I admit I am describing it like
one, but like they are playing out their scene in little slighly
alternate realities. Like the commercials cut to seem like an
interview that has been edited for length. The thought, the moment
of the scene, changes in these different takes, and the editor kept
them in to make some flavor. The small things that add up to great
changes, like Bradbury's A Sound of Thunder. I don't know for
certain that this is even a theme of the film, but the feel of it is
present and arresting.
--
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These reviews (c) 2003 Karina Montgomery. Please feel free to
forward but credit the reviewer in the text. Thanks. You can
check out previous reviews at:
http://www.cinerina.com and http://ofcs.rottentomatoes.com - the
Online Film Critics Society
http://www.hsbr.net/reviews/karina/listing.hsbr - Hollywood Stock
Exchange Brokerage Resource
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X-RT-RatingText: 4.5/5
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