Along with the earlier release of Mystic River and the upcoming release of House of Sand and Fog, 21 Grams is one of the three somber movies of 2003 that will have the Academy members thinking Oscar.
In Alejandro González Iñárritu’s first all-English film following 2000’s Amores Perros, which Roger Ebert referred to as “the work of a born filmmaker,” he pits three characters on a whirlwind ride as one tragic event creates a symbiotic circle that throws their lives and destinies together, in a story that will take them to the heights of love, the depths of revenge, and the promise of redemption.
21 Grams is devised of several short scenes, fragmented in a non-chronological order to create a puzzle put together by the lives of Paul Rivers (Penn), Cristina Peck (Watts), and Jack Jordan (Del Toro).
Paul Rivers is a college professor whose life is dangerously caught between this world and the next as he is in desperate need of a heart transplant and his wife Mary (Gainsbourg) is hoping she can get pregnant with his child through artificial insemination before it is too late.
Cristina Peck is a recovered drug addict and happily married woman with two daughters.
Jack Jordan is an ex-con and new-found lover of Christ since his time in the big house, while his doubting wife (Melissa Leo) is left to struggle to provide for their two children as Jack reaffirms his new found passion for the Lord.
The differences in these three lives are more than just demographics, and it takes a traffic accident, killing Cristina’s husband and two children to throw all three lives into a similar downward spiral where everything they had questioned in the past and all their demons are brought to light.
Iñárritu pulled every gram of acting out of his three stars notably Naomi Watts turns in a performance that has Oscar written all over hit as she struggles with her loss and the unsuspecting love that weaves its way into her life after her husband’s death. Not since Mulholland Dr. has Watts been given a chance to show her range as an actress, but after 21 Grams we may be given the chance to see a lot more of what she has to offer.
Complimenting Watts’ performance is Sean Penn as he gives a much more inspiring performance than could be taken from Mystic River earlier this year. His role as Paul Rivers is filled with such passion and instability and he manages to turn an overly dark performance into a memorable one as his character battles his heart ailments and is often at battle with his own conscience.
Comparing 21 Grams to Mystic River is only worth doing due to the dark nature of the film, the difference here is that the characters in 21 Grams are much more likeable and worth caring for as they wish to “do the right thing.” Whereas Mystic River contained characters just as dark and disturbed as the plot 21 Grams shows what can happen to people when destruction enters their lives and their morals are pit against their anger and confusion.
While the puzzle-piece nature of the flick presented in a fragmented style becomes a bit redundant toward the waning portions of the film, where a more linear format may have made the emotional impact of the final scene a bit more, well, emotional, 21 Grams impacts the viewer as you see what can happen to people when they are pushed to the limit once everything they cared for in the world is taken from them.
There is a sense of realism that is brought into 21 Grams due to that just about every shot was done with a hand-held camera, that takes away the static nature of a steady-cam, and brings the viewer into the world being described on the screen. There is a textured feel to each scene that helps describe the emotion and does some of the storytelling for you.
Iñárritu is quoted in the production notes saying, “We’re using hand-held again [as on Amores Perros] but in a different way. It gives the freedom to be more flexible in the narrative and in the style of the film. Sometimes the camera is just an observer, breathing with the scene and being very passive; other times, it can be descriptive and very active. I tried to use the camera as a painter uses his brush.”
You may be wondering what the title 21 Grams actually means, or why the tagline for this movie is “They say 21 grams is the weight we lose when we die. The weight of five nickels, of a hummingbird, of a chocolate bar — and perhaps also of a human soul.” First off, it isn’t drugs, although there is a little drug use in the movie, but without giving too much away let’s just say that without those 21 grams your life would be considerably different.
21 Grams may be one of the most shocking films of 2003, but at the same time it is one of the most revealing. Lending emotion to a dark script this film is worth the watch, and definitely worth Oscar consideration.
