Confused about what happened in 21 Grams? Click here to read the 21 Grams plot explanation. (spoiler alert!)

by Dan Ferrisi (Guest Critic)
If one sets the bar for a movie being "long" at two hours, more and more movies are moving into long territory. When a film is lengthy, it bears an extra responsibility to the audience to keep us interested throughout the running time. Certain films, like Mulholland Dr. and Fight Club, are so mesmerizing that the hours fly by. Other films, no matter how good they may be, feel every minute of their length, and perhaps more. 21 Grams is just such a film. Though it runs just a few minutes more than two hours, it feels about 20 minutes longer. Therefore, despite powerhouse acting and a good story, the film simply cannot reach A-level.

Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro are at the forefront of the film throughout and each deserves an Oscar nomination for the riveting performances this film boasts. Penn plays Paul Rivers, a former playboy who now, while dying from a defective heart, is dependent upon his wife for the first time. Watts portrays Cristina Peck, a former drug abuser who falls back into her dangerous habit after a personal catastrophe.Del Toro completely morphs into Jack Jordan, a lifelong criminal who has been taught to embrace Christianity as a way of turning his life around.

Each of the stories is tragic, and each intersects. Rivers receives the news that a heart donor may be available, but at a hefty cost to another key character. Jordan throws all his soul into reforming himself and becoming a true family man, but a tragic accident leaves him more alone than ever before. His newly discovered conscience bears down heavily, while his wife urges him to forget the overpowering guilt. If this film is a mood piece, that mood is unquestionably tragic. This being the case, the film ends the only way it can--with a death.

The film is laid out in a nonlinear fashion for the first half, and a more chronological way after that. Flashes of the concluding scenes are shown in the beginning, but audiences are initially working so hard to get their bearings that little is actually given away. Rather, our interest is piqued by the drama we are sure lies ahead. Some may argue that the nonlinear technique is unnecessary here--and it probably is not needed to maintain the story's power--but throwing audiences into the middle of the action while moving back and forth in time is a great way to immediately involve everyone in the story. It works that way here.

Alejandro González Iñárritu, who helmed the critically popular 2000 picture Amores Perros, directs the film. His visual style is very interesting, and similar to Jane Campion's in her recent misfire In the Cut. The image is grainy and gritty, but not in a way that is distracting or hard on the eyes (like Soderbergh's Full Frontal was). Iñárritu's two films also share the same screenwriter, Guillermo Arriaga. His dialogue is particularly good here, and the characters both interesting and fully realized.

Many people may wonder what the title of this film means. There is a closing monologue by one of the characters that tries to relate it to the film itself, not entirely successfully (though Arriaga's words are poetic as usual). "21 grams" refers to the amount of weight that a person is purported to lose at the precise moment of death. Some believe this is the weight of the soul, and others a natural, physiological occurrence; the actuality is unknown. But this good, weighty film speaks for itself, title aside, and is just a step or two shy of being great.

Dan Ferrisi


Confused about what happened in 21 Grams? Click here to read the 21 Grams plot explanation. (spoiler alert!)

See what other Frank's Reel Reviews critics have to say about 21 Grams.
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