21 Grams

Bound together by one incident, three totally different people; Paul (Sean Penn), Cristina (Naomi Watts) and Jack (Benico Del Toro). Paul is a man who is slowly dying from heart failure; Cristina is a wife and mother of two; Jack is a religious ex-convict with a long criminal record. Incidentally, they are bound together by a car accident.The film is split into the past and present, telling the story from the start, but interspersing it with sequences which are to come.Directed by Mexican Alejandro González Iñárritu, 21 Grams deals with the raw emotion of a person. It is a very human film, portraying passion and emotion at its most real with some superb acting and extreme camera close ups. As a film, it is immensely hard hitting and as the film approaches its final climax, everything, all the sequences that are shown earlier are tied together and it all makes sense. Unlike many films, 21 Grams shows killing to be heavy, a weight on the conscience. You will find that at the end of the film you will have a strange feeling of enlightenment. 21 Grams is a film that you should only really watch on your own to appreciate the power and emotion of it. The simple music and the way it is filmed with hand held cameras makes it so melancholic and powerful against dusty Mexican-type countrysides, suburban towns, congested motorways, intense clubs, dank, grim prisons, cheap motels and hospitals drenched in the irony of life.One of the fascinating parts of the film is the title; 21 Grams. It is said, that when you die, you lose 21 grams of body weight which is believed to be the weight of ones soul.21 Grams is easily one of, if not the best film of 2004. If you appreciate meangingful and powerful films, I highly recommend it. The story is superbly crafted and brought together with gripping, solemn imagery. This is one of the films you have to see before you die.

A film that could only exist if a genius like Inarritu associates himself with a production and cast of absolute genious'.A film that needs to be watched more than once to fully appreciate how good it is, it is difficult to rip your eyes away from the screen, with such an unorthodox yet intriguingly poetic style and with some of the most intense acting I've ever witnessed.The cast is so believable it could be a documentary if it wasn't for the stunning direction and editing ,which could be argued, is such a mismatch to the non linear style. It really feels like it shouldn't work (the first time I watched it I hated it) it felt unnecessarily complicated but with every viewing after that I realised that a linear story would of made this just another film but because of the style it holds you to the story. There really is nothing bad to say about it, it's a film that true film lovers should watch because as confusing as it is, whilst watching it, it all makes perfect sense in the end, after the second or third viewing. If you enjoy pretty colours and loud explosions like every Micheal Bay film ever made then don't watch it because it will make your head hurt.

So, yes, this is a powerfully provocative film dealing with death, guilt and their consequences yet the actual story is actually slight, awkward and improbable. What makes it highly watchable is the unconventional way it is told and the fine performances of the three main leads (Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Torro) plus excellent support (special mentions to a subtle role played by Charlotte Gainsbourg and a clever and understated display by Melissa Leo).The repercussions of the main characters brought together through tragedy and it's repercussions is hardly believable but this is a film that is character lead and the script and acting keep thestory afloat.You won't leave this film considering what happened and why but might end up thinking about people, relationships and the random factors that direct life long after '21 grams' has finished.

21 Grams revolves around the lives of 3 people, seemingly extremely different, who are bound together by a horrific accident. The title of the film, honestly, has nothing to do with the film itself in the sense that you expect it to. The Story jumps from different periods of each persons life. Going in the past, back to the present, glimpse of the future to some up the story with an ending aside by Sean Penn's character giving us a brief about the movie title and it's reference to the amount of grams you lose when you die > and inevitably how much you gain. The actors alone should get 5 stars each. Extremely powerful, absolutely outstanding performances all round. The movie attempts to highlight every moment of a persons life, whether you fear death or not, based on what one loses. This films storyline is exhilarating the way each fragment from the start is mismatched and seemingly comes together to have you understand what's going on, it was the only thing keeping the storyline alive as it was nothing special. Gangster/ex-con turned religious man (Del Toro) accidently kills a father & his two children in a hit and run, wife (Watts) loses all 3 to the accident and agrees to terms of organ donor to donate her husband's heart to another patient who is dying (Penn). Gangster/ex-con turned religious man battles with his guilt, Wife broken and attached from the world, Patient wants to find out who heart belonged to > Patient's marriage breakdown due to his partner's eccentric & unsympathetic attitude toward their life and starting a family. Patient finds comfort in wife who lost family, inevitably & ironically where his 'Heart' wants to be. Wife and Patient unfold into 'heightened depths of passions and obsession - with the promise of revenge of wife's family's death.Blu-Ray transfer is extremely sad. There no immense detail and scenic landscaping looked like an upscaled DVD. Transfer to Blu-Ray was 'fuzzy'. The sound however, was incredible > crisp clear, unremitting and incessant.I recommend you do not base your decision of this movie on my review.Buy it, watch it, make your own mind up.