21 Grams (DVD)

...Thus we have ' 21 Grams ' , which was first released in 2003. In this exploration of American culture and the American psyche by screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and director Alejandro González Iñárritu (both of Mexico), we get a riveting, if intentionally incoherent, cinematic semi-masterpiece from the same duo responsible for the Spanish-language film, 'Amores Perros' in 2000. For ' 21 Grams ', the screenplay was written first in Spanish and then ...
...Iñárritu for the entire ' 21 Grams ' does intrigue mightily at first. Like a jumbled-up jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces strewn randomly on the floor, we are shown wholly unconnected events from the very start. The opening scene has a nude, seated Sean Penn smoking in the background, glancing thoughtfully at a nude Naomi Watts fast asleep on the bed. Several cuts and unrelated scenes later, Mr Penn is in an Intensive Care Unit hooked up to a tangle ...

zerbine28 16.01.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...that we all lose exactly 21 grams in weight at the exact moment of our death. Cristina Peck is a beautiful young woman who shares a beautiful home with her husband and two young daughters. With no need to work, she passes her time at the local swimming baths where she keeps fit and socialises with her friends. Returning home one day, she receives a telephone message from her husband to say that he is on his way and she laughs to herself as she hears ...
...United in tragedy and grief, 21 Grams is the story of how life goes on, whether we like it or not. In the style of Memento, 21 Grams is as convoluted as it is utterly simple. Filmed in a grainy, grimy style with raw documentary-style footage, it barely feels like a work of fiction and it doesn’t really play like one either. The obvious comparison is to the thriller Memento, which is a story about a guy who suffers from memory loss and can only remember ...

LostWitness 10.03.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

INTRODUCTION: After the exceptional “Lost Loves” (Amores Perros), the Mexican Inarritu decided to take a stroll in Hollywood. However, in order to gain recognition, shine and certainly more money in his banking account, he decides to tell a human story precisely as he wanted it. With mature, suburb protagonists Penn, Watts and Del Toro, sets up a tangled game of time, coincidences, choices and, finally, fate. The hope comes from Mexico! :) THE ...
...strangers whose lives are brought together by a terrible accident; "21 Grams" is the latest film from director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ( as mentioned above) and it is available on DVD from Universal. Inarritu caused quite a stir in the independent film world with his major motion picture debut, "Amores Perros," in 2000. "Amores Perros" drew critical praise despite a relatively poor box office display and some extremely violent content. The film ...

feniak 14.06.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...** Background ** 21 Grams is a difficult film to talk about without giving anything away. It is written by Guillermo Arriaga and directed by Alejandro Inarritu. It is a combination of an interesting story, great acting and a disjointed timeline that has all been merged into an end product that requires as much from the audience as it offers to them. This is not the sort of film where you can sit down and switch off and still enjoy. The disjointed ...
...not like Pulp Fiction. 21 Grams is a lot more fragmented than Pulp Fiction was making it a lot more taxing to watch. This is the only film I have seen that has been disjointed to this level and I am not sure I would rush to see another one. The timeline is a big selling point for the film in that it is something different for an audience that has seen it all before. Having said that, for me I am not sure that it adds a great deal to the story and ...

jonesri 19.01.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...of the title, to me 21 grams sounded like a drug reference, or maybe it was because of the trailer which showed drug taking and some washed out wasted characters. Even ten minutes in I still thought this was the case however this was because it reminded me of the film Traffic which centered on the drugs industry and the impact that it had on a disparate group of people. This is also quite a difficult film to review because of the way the story is ...
...their wider families and with 21 grams the film explores the devastation caused by a road accident not just on the victims but also on their families. It focuses on the family members left behind but also the impact on the driver who was at fault and the innocent members of his family. In addition an extra twist is introduced with a third party whose life is also affected by the fall out from the accident initially in a positive way but the psychological ...

atticusuk 16.09.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

"They say we all lose 21 grams at the exact moment of our death... everyone. The weight of a stack of nickels. The weight of a chocolate bar. The weight of a hummingbird..." The meaning of the title doesn't become clear until late on in this movie but some time before that we are left in no doubt as to the theme that the film is dealing with namely death, loss, grief and ultimate redemption. This makes for harrowing and emotional viewing. PLOT ...
...people who are brought together by one tragic event. Housewife Cristina Peck (with some skeletons in her closet) lives an idyllic life with her loving husband and two young daughters until her life is destroyed by their untimely deaths at the hands of a hit and run driver. Ex-bad boy Jack Jordan has finally turned his life around finding new hope in his Christian faith. He is a beacon in the poor community in which he lives and tries to help other ...

Mauri 30.10.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...head about this film entitled 21 Grams I was more excited that a small child about to pee her pants. As it is believed this is the weight a person loses at the exact time of death, your soul escaping. Fantastic, I didn't know they story line - I didn't have to. The title alone had secured my ticket purchase. So excited, I took along (and paid for) two friends to enjoy it with me. Written by Guillermo Arriaga and directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu ...
...list of Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Clea DuVall and Melissa Leo offered me a few names I know of. So, the lights go down, the story begins and I right from the word go I'm confused. In fact... no... wait... I'm pretty sure they're playing the wrong film but that okay because I've been to the cinema when this has happened before and they'll apologise, put the right film on then give us all free tickets for another ...

Karla13 22.03.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...film - but still - 21 Grams is not the sort of film you would expect to see picking up awards, and I guess that is the difference between the DVD box advertising the film for its nominations rather than it's victories. This 2003 released only worked its way into my DVD collection because I didn't know what it was about, but I liked the title. The slogan for the movie is, "How much does life weigh?" and you sort of expect the film to be about drugs, ...
...when you die you lose 21 grams from your body weight, and that begs the question of how much does your life really weigh. For the first 20 minutes you are bound to be confused as hell, and I was. The film opens with Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) and Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) lying in bed together, naked. I'm sure that gets a few teenagers hooked to watch the entire film, because Naomi's nipples are like bullets. But there's no substance to this scene, ...

Nathan_Innit 27.04.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

...varriation of Montage used in 21 Grams, where there is a story but not told in a linear sense with scenes being self contained, was first built on in the theatre in the 1950s by a practioner named Bertolt Brecth. He developed these ideas so that the audience would be merely observers and not emotionally involved in the story. BOTTOM LINE 21 Grams is daring, and proud of it. Some people won't enjoy, others will. It's one of those love or hate films. ...
...story to fall into place, therefore, it is a film for patience, a film of "Substance". It may sound boring, but you are so engrossed in the complications of the storytelling, you don't notice. Melodramatic and slightly depressing maybe; but it is a very well accomplished artistic achievement that should be seen for the experience alone. CERTIFICATE : 15 TIME APPROX : 119 minutes CAUTION Strong Language Scenes of a sexual nature Some strong ...

DarkMark 07.05.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

21 Grams is the second film by Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu. His first was Amores Perros, a brutal and stylish interweaving of three stories loosely connected by a car crash. Critics raved about it but I really didn't like it, despite the evident stylishness. 21 Grams is in some ways similar, with three different plot threads also revolving around a crash and shot in a grainy handheld style, but in other ways different, the three stories being ...
...that are extremely good about 21 Grams. The cast is superb, all three leads giving strong, convincing and emotionally powerful performances. The minor characters too are given full and interesting characterisations. The way the film the shot feels gritty and realistic and includes some beautiful shots, though the grainyness and shakiness of the camera do get a little tiring by the end. The story is an interesting one which doesn't flinch from taking ...

JonathanS2 02.04.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

21 grams, it is claimed, is the amount a body loses at the precise moment of death; the weight of a small stack of coins - and, so the theory goes, the soul. In truth, the research that lead to these claims came up with a range of results, with the quantity that forms the title to this film being for some reason seized upon as the definitive figure. In keeping with its title, 21 Grams is a film very much about death - how it affects people, how it ...
...by director Alejandro González Iñárritu, 21 Grams shares much with its siblings, Amores Perros and Babel, not least the patchwork narrative and interwoven timelines. In a very similar way to the first film of the three, this effort revolves around a single incident that impacts upon the lives of three people. We follow the storylines of each of these characters in a jumbled, rearranged narrative that switches between the three strands and moves around ...

Puggers 16.04.2009 (07.04.2009) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez This film is basically three different families and storylines all converging into one by the climax. Theres Paul Rivers {sean Penn} and his wife awaiting a heart transplant. Cristina Peck {Naomi Watts} who is happily married but is about to go through a horrific shock. Jack Jordan {the excellent Benicio Del Toro} who is an ex-convict getting his lfe back onto the staright and narrow through Jesus. I really dont ...
...prefer to see films knowing as little about the plot as possible, as even knowing the slightest thing can prepare you for whats about to happen and will soften the blow of any impact onscreen. As for the actual format of the film this is not done in the usual formulaic beginning/middle/end routine that most films adhere to. The first five or ten minutes of the film is spent skipping between the three storylines from the future to the past and back ...

saddler20uk 18.03.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

21 Grams is about death, pain and dire misfortune. Yet its unique style makes it ultimately more thought provoking than harrowing. With muddled and ambiguous chronology, subtle photography, and scenes of silently profound drama, the film takes an unusual approach to distressing themes. Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro all deliver continuously compelling performances as people who have been victims of suffering and addiction. When their ...
...death. And this is where 21 grams comes in: “They say everyone loses precisely 21 grams at the exact moment of their death.” This idea of a kind of spiritual release through death or bereavement is open to speculation. And for this, 21 Grams is a unique and moving depiction of life, death and the human soul. ...

zak-2 19.03.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

Every human being looses 21 grams when he/she dies, this is how this movie ends, now you must be wondering why I’m starting my review describing the end, because this is the story of this story, the movie starts with clippings from the end and sort of closes in playing the past and the present in a descent amalgamation. It’s not a bad movie but it lacks the sort of “standing out” story needed to make a mark. I was very pleased with Naomi Watts’s ...
...a person who’d made her daughter and husband very proud, this sweet family just was so happy until one day something happened, that changed her life forever, her husband and two six year old daughters were killed almost instantly by a car accident. Now this movie is all about three couples starting from Naomi and her husband to another couple, played by Sean Penn and Charlotte Gainsbourg, (“My Wife Is An Actress”), to Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) ...

achievinggoals 01.05.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)

I bought this film expecting and needing something fantastic and new, something different from your typical stereotyped Hollywood film considering a fine cast line-up - Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn. I found the film confusing in places, it jumped around more than any film I have ever known. Now, Quentin Tarantino can pull the 'beginning-at-the-end' theory off extremely well, we all know that but for someone else to take a new approach ...
...Tarantino but director Alejandro González Iñárritu does a damn fine job at trying his best! . I liked the plot, the cast, the way everything eventually folded into a neat little story but I was disappointed with the way I had to work to put it all together. Usually I love films that give you a chance to work out the story, the plot and what's going on but I found this was a bit heavy going. The different approached to the storyline are great, ...

woof45 25.11.2005 (27.11.2005) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of 21 Grams (DVD)