21 Grams (2003)
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21 Grams Movie Review
21 Grams is a 2003 crime drama film directed by Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu and starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro. It’s a pretty good, albeit not great movie.
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“There are so many things that
have to happen for two people to meet“
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This movie serves as a sequel to ‘Amores perros’ meaning that it’s also a triptych centered around a tragedy. And it’s probably my least favorite entry in this trilogy despite its many merits. So it follows a car accident that leaves all of its characters in tragedy and turmoil.
Benicio del Toro is the weakest link here. I personally did not find him all that great in this film so his Oscar nomination wasn’t all that deserved, at least that is what I thought. His character doesn’t really have much growth and I wanted much more from his side.
Sean Penn and Naomi Watts are much better. She lost her husband and two daughters in this accident, and he took the heart from her late husband and that kept him alive while in critical condition. So he follows her around, feeling that he owes her something, and the two start a problematic relationship.
Although sounding a bit odd and creepy, he’s a realistic character who worked quite well here, and Penn’s performance is admittedly very good, though I usually find him overrated. But Naomi Watts absolutely shined here in the toughest, most demanding performance, stealing the show from the other two actors, and entirely deserving her Oscar nomination.
So the film deals with chance and what can happen out of ordinary to a group of people in a shared experience. Although obviously mostly implausible, it still could happen once in a million times, and I liked how well the movie explored that development. Its title is also an interesting conversation about souls and how much they weigh.
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21 Grams has good dialogue and interesting themes, but it is way too depressing, dark and with a particularly tragic, needlessly so ending. It’s too difficult to watch and it needed at least a bit of hope in it. It’s well directed by Inarritu and overall well made, but the cinematography is so bad as I could see it was filmed with handheld cameras how obviously cheap it all looked. It is very well connected in its entirety, albeit the non-linear storytelling wasn’t the best employed.
21 Grams explores its themes and its somewhat implausible storyline so well. The acting is strong across the board with Naomi Watts delivering the most outstanding performance in the most demanding role. The ending is too tragic and depressing as is the whole movie, but the dialogue is great and the characterization is strong. It’s also emotional and very well connected throughout. It’s a good sequel that is weaker than the original mostly due to its cheap-looking cinematography with obviously employed handheld cameras.
