21 GRAMS by Alejandro González Iñárritu
by Andre Soares
21 Grams (2003) 
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu. Screenplay: Guillermo Arriaga. Cast: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo
REDEMPTION IN FRAGMENTS
Shot in documentary-style, 21 Grams is a bleak, convoluted — and powerful — drama about three individuals linked to one another and to the immediacy of death: Paul (Sean Penn) is a dying man in dire need of a heart transplant; Jack (Benicio Del Toro) is a born-again ex-con who has run over a father and his two daughters as they were crossing a street; and Cristina (Naomi Watts) is the woman whose family Jack has killed.
In order to tell those three disparate but intertwined stories, director Alejandro González Iñárritu opted to use handheld cameras, loads of closeups, washed-out colors (top-quality work by cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto), and to fragmentize screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga’s narrative. As a result, the gritty, claustrophobic 21 Grams offers no sense of a time-space continuum. There’s no future and no past, just numerous "presents" that seem to be dangling from a dimension free of time and space constraints. One could argue that such fragmentation is a cinematic reflection of the characters’ equally fragmented selves, but in the final analysis, Iñárritu’s decision is no more than a gimmick — one that works both for and against the film.
One positive result of such fragmentation (an outstanding editing job by Stephen Mirrione) is that, as soon as it begins, 21 Grams immerses us into its relentless narrative flow. Without buoys or lifeguards on duty, we must struggle alone to stay afloat while the screen throws at us myriad clues, including several deceptive ones, about where we’re headed.
One important negative result, however, is that the very fragmentation that absorbs our intellect and arises our curiosity also distances us emotionally from the film, for there’s no emotional crescendo leading to a climax. Also, the deceptive clues thrown our way (e.g., the sequence in which we see Paul shoot Jack) are both unnecessary and irritating. It is not as if we needed to get even more confused while watching the film.
Arriaga’s screenplay is generally well-grounded and believable, but he does fall prey to the hoary Hollywood cliché that hero and heroine must — simply must — fall in love. For a movie that relishes in being unconventional, Iñárritu and Arriaga could have come up with another type of bond. (A friendship that arises out of the fact that the heart of Cristina’s dead husband is beating inside Paul’s body, perhaps?)
Elsewhere in the story, we get some unexplained actions, such as Paul’s ex-wife’s insistence on having his baby even though she knows he doesn’t love her anymore, and some dime-store philosophizing, as when Paul starts wondering about the meaning of life and death as his soul — all 21 grams of it — is about to leave his body. "How much is gained [with death]?" Paul asks shortly before his last breath. A baby is the answer, for Cristina has gotten pregnant with his child. "How much is lost [with corny clichés]?" I wondered.
Those qualms notwithstanding, 21 Grams is a must-see motion picture. Why? Well, how much is gained when a film offers superb performances all around? Naomi Watts, mesmerizing in Mulholland Dr., is first-rate as a broken woman, overflowing with hatred and bitterness — but little self-pity. Sean Penn gives what may well be the best performance of his career, far surpassing his Oscar-winning turn in Mystic River that same year; and Benicio Del Toro, as much of a lead as the other two actors (though stupidly nominated in the supporting actor category for the Oscars), is perfection: a man who is fearsome and vulnerable, strong and weak, guilty and innocent — all at once. Melissa Leo, as Jack’s overly protective wife, and Charlotte Gainsbourg, as Paul’s obsessive ex, offer two extra flawless portrayals.
Overall, 21 Grams is an emotionally detached film that offers more clichés than it should, but one that is redeemed by sterling craftsmanship, solid direction, gripping characters, and a uniformly perfect cast.
Synopsis:
Through its fragmented narrative, which skips back and forth in time and space, 21 Grams relates the intertwining stories of three individuals: Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), a man in desperate need of a heart transplant and whose former companion, Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg), is now determined to have his baby; Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), a woman whose husband and two daughters have been killed by a hit-and-run driver and who has become a coke addict; and Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), an ex-con turned Christian fanatic who believes that by embracing Jesus he will cleanse himself of his vile past.
Little by little the pieces of the three-pronged puzzle are put together: Paul gets his (ultimately useless) heart transplant because Cristina’s husband died in the road accident. Feelings of guilt — Paul is alive because another man has died — motivate him to attempt to meet Cristina. They quickly fall in love. The hit-and-run driver turns out to be Jack, who now feels betrayed by Jesus because, in his mind, the all-knowing Christian Son of God had let him buy a new truck that was to become a tool of death.
Ultimately, the three characters find a glimmer of redemption in both life and death.
Notes:
The film’s title refers to the alleged weight of a person’s soul. That figure came about via some highly dubious research performed in the early 1900s by Dr. Duncan MacDougall of Haverhill, Massachusetts. MacDougall believed that if humans had a soul, it had to exist inside the body as some type of measurable material.
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU
Comments
Leave a Reply
Note: All comments are moderated. Different views and opinions are welcome, but abusive/bigoted/flaming comments will NOT be approved. Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has NO contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog or any information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
