21 Grams

Thank God for the fact that they still make films that can tug at your soul. I love films that don't lead me by the hand, that make me ask questions, think about them; 21 Grams is exactly that. Iñárritu's consistent disruption of the temporal sequence is a clear win in my eyes, piecing together the mosaic of temporal shards was exciting and thrilling in its own way. This great impression is enhanced by the handheld camera and the interesting work with sound in places. Standing above these technical matters is the emotionality and depth of the script and the performances. Benicio, Benicio, you are awesome, I’ve not other words to say it. It is good to know that despite all the messiness of life, there is always hope, that bright spot in the distance, and that great movies are still being made. (08/07/2004)

Another Iñárritu version of Amores perros, but this time with Hollywood actors. I still don't feel any particular connection or empathy for the characters that one might expect given the structure of the story and the escalating situations they go through. In short, 21 Grams is another example of manipulation of feelings. You need to subject the heroes to absolute suffering, then entangle and connect the stories, and then increase the suffering. That's what it's all about - about suffering, about denying yourself, about finding a way out. There’s too much violence in proportion to one meter of film. (06/15/2017)

Iñárritu's next fascinating, ruthless analysis of life's journeys, where a single moment forever changes everything that has come before it, with no way back and no forgiveness possible. The acting of the main trio, which would surely deserve a statuette, only adds to the enormous power of this film, which in many ways follows the lead of the excellent Amores Perros. Sean Penn, teetering on the edge of life and death in the hospital is truly unforgettable with his monologue about "21 grams", as is Naomi Watts in the scenes involving the most intense emotions. (06/01/2009)

The moodily gritty, gloomy, shaky camerawork reinforces the realism of the world depicted in 21 Grams. The chronological disjointedness of the plot comprising three individual, interlinked stories promotes consideration of the composition of connections. The stories were originally supposed to play out sequentially, one after the other as in Amores Perros, but the director chose a more “chaotic” variant. This whole formalistically ambitious work follows the emotional suffering of the characters and is triumphant as a result. It is both interesting and emotionally compelling. However, it isn’t entirely successful. It’s not a brilliant jigsaw puzzle with an unmistakable distribution of conflict points (Memento), because it DOES simply feel like the scattering of the various plot lines was unnecessary and is only an attempt to turn silver into gold. Nor is it a devastating emotional explosion (Magnolia), because although the director avoids sentimentality (which is fine), he shies away from unrestrained, cruel baring of human intimacy (which is a shame) in the manner of Lars von Trier, who strips his characters of their clothes and has more respect for them. (03/08/2004)

This is an example of how an untraditional approach to narration serves only as an effective gimmick to turn a film into something more interesting than it actually is. I’m quite surprised at how many people say that 21 Grams is very emotional, I think it would be almost impossible to deal with a similar topic in a colder way. (02/14/2009)