21 Grams (2003)

21 Grams: ***1/2 out of **** Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. Screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga. Starring Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Clea Duvall, and Danny Huston.

"21 Grams" is a movie that initially frustrates and stirs you, has you watching with a bizarre intensity, and by the end leaves you emotionally exhausted. None of it makes sense at first, but Inarritu's command of the actors and the storyline have you watching intently -and thinking- the whole time. Performances from actors Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro are routinely great regardless of how good or bad their movies are, but here they get to flex their muscles more then usual.

In the year 2000, Ajelandro Gonzalez Inarritu exploded onto the scene like a grenade with "Amores Perros," another movie wherein lives are forever changed by a random occurrence. And although I think it's too early to distinguish the "defining nature" of his work, his movies are ambitious and operatic stories that take place within the beats of everyday life. Like Kieslowski's "Decalogue" or the films of P.T. Anderson, they move deftly between coincidence and melodrama. He and his cinematographer Rodigo Prieto have created a stark, feverish movie where even the wallpaper looks as alive as skin. The look and sound of the movie seems as if it breathes, perspires and pumps blood.

Much has been made of the movie's editing. I say it works as both a device for establishing one story arc and then revealing the motivation behind it (which has been used by directors such as Altman and Egoyan) and to at first throw the audience into a amorphic furor of thoughts and emotions, only to later funnel everything into focus. The editing is fitting, I think, in that Inarritu wants us to sympathize with all of the characters but not remain with any one of them for too long or take sides somehow. Like great fiction, the movements of the story are so bold and defined, it enhances them to tell it in a non-linear fashion. He cuts between scenes at just the right minute, allowing them to gestate and live in your mind. Had the story been told in chronological order, the tone of the movie would be drastically uneven, and I believe Inarritu used this technique to point out how far these characters have careened into despair.

Although I've praised it left and right, I haven't told you anything about the actual content of the movie but I've found it impossible to do so without revealing important moments ("What is the movie about?"). I wouldn't be surprised if many people were turned off by it, or claim that the director didn't know what to make of the dark nature of the story. That's true I suppose, because by their nature, films about death are beyond explanation. I was reminded of "The Sweet Hereafter" and "Cries and Whispers." Given the architecture of the screenplay, Inarritu's movie conveys the utter randomness of our own mortality, and how it's easy to say "it's not fair" when it in fact never is.

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X-RAMR-ID: 36739
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1236496
X-RT-TitleID: 1127008
X-RT-AuthorID: 9883
X-RT-RatingText: 3.5/4