21 Grams
November 8th 2008 01:11
21 Grams (2003)
I was humming the song ‘Some Devil’ by Dave Matthews when I remembered that it was the closing song for 21 Grams, I remember when 21 Grams first came out, I was extremely excited to see it, there was a large amount of hype around the film – the guys who wrote and directed ‘Amores Perros’ (Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and Guillermo Arriaga) were back and this time they had heavyweight actors with them like Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro. Inarritu had proved to be an unbelievably talented first time director who had created an opus on his first go. Three films down the road Amores Perros is still his masterpiece. 21 Grams however still lived up to its hype in 2003 as it examined death, tragedy and all that other fun stuff that generates a powerful film if done well.
Done in a relatively maddening style of cutting everything in random order, with its scenes having no chronology what so ever, the story involves three people. Paul Rivers played by Sean Penn is a dying man on a waiting list for a heart transplant. When a born again Christian/former convict named Jack Jordan played by Benicio Del Toro hits the husband and two young daughters of Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) with his truck, she is left widowed. Paul receives the heart of Cristina’s deceased husband and hires a private investigator to find out who’s heart he has. A moving set up already, the three of these people deal with emotions of guilt, grief and a second chance at life as they come face to face in the unfolding drama of 21 Grams.
Press kit for 21 Grams Oscar campaign
Like I mentioned, the editing of 21 Grams left most audiences divided, it turned a complex tale of people into an even more complex narrative as each scene is presented in random order for you to put the events together on your own. I like this film very much and although I can see the point of view of others who were exasperated by it’s lack of chronology, I personally can’t see the film working in any other way, it certainly feels right and secondly it seemed like the next step for a director who had just tackled similar material. I find it an interesting way to watch a film as it certainly causes more involvement in the audience as they are required to pay closer attention to what is happening.
The depths of 21 Grams plummets deep and certainly delivers moving cinema, however some thoughts which come to mind regarding this film are it’s seriousness. A film tackling such grave subjects can certainly use 21 Grams as a model, however the film seems to restrict itself, as if Inarritu wanted to pronounce it’s importance by driving home how ‘deep’ it was. Sydney Lumet, who in his early career delivered one masterpiece after another said once that he thought his biggest failure was a film he made called ‘Bye Bye Braverman’, he felt he began the film in too heavy of a manner and because of this he missed out on an opportunity to let the film’s seriousness emerge and take you into an experience as opposed to banging you on the head as you entered the room. I personally think that 21 Grams for all its ambition had room for lighter moments and I think if Inarritu wanted to push himself he could have approached the film with an attempt at portraying moments where people are actually enjoying their life and experiencing positive things too. Instead the film seems to choose it’s mould as an ‘important’ one and as a result when the film makes attempts at fleeting carefree moments they come across as forced compared to everything else.
Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro in 21 Grams
The film aside from this flaw is fantastic and moving. The camera work has a wonderful ‘Cinema Verite’ style which keeps the film’s energy in motion. The performance from Benicio Del Toro is damn near perfect, with fresh, brilliant choices in virtually every single moment he is on screen. Sean Penn keeps topping himself, he had just won the Oscar for best actor in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Mystic River’ and after 21 Grams he would go on to deliver possibly his greatest performance since ‘Carlito’s Way’ in ‘The Assassination Of Richard Nixon’ and he continued to raise his bar in 21 Grams. Naomi Watts while good too, seems a little forced some times, but as the actor who has to dig the deepest in this film that can be forgiven.
How much does life weigh
I think 21 Grams is another amazing film by Inarritu, I agree that it is the work of a genius but I do think it takes itself too seriously, of course that is something that mainstream cinema needs a shot of from time to time. What I will say on the same note is that what the film does right is that it never feels heavy handed despite it’s tragic premise and I will make the distinction between this and my earlier criticism by saying that there’s a difference between being heavy handed and limiting your film’s opportunity for expression. Also the emotions never seem force fed to you which is because Inarritu actually allows his actors to act, letting genuine human complexity into the film as it weaves through it’s peaks and valleys of love and pain. 21 Grams allows things to happen organically and that is the key to the elation that this film will give you.
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This film exists in the complex and profound grief that requires subjective experience to completely digest. Nuanced performances lift crafted words beyond purpose.