21 Grams

USA 2003, 123 minutes
Dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Rating: [R16]
Genres: Drama, Suspense/Crime

Feat. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro, Charlotte Gainsbourg

Aroview: For his English-language debut, the celebrated Mexican director of AMORES PERROS weighs in with an unconventional, soul-baring drama that connects three characters crippled by fate.

Employing a fractured narrative to survey the impact of a hit-and-run accident on three strangers (a grieving widow, a heart-transplant recipient and the remorseful culprit with a criminal past), this challenges (and at times teases) its audience into putting the fragments of its intersecting stories into chronological order.

Though ambitious and very well made, the film itself carries a heavy burden of grief and, as signalled by the casting of Sean Penn, has a tendency to be too determinedly serious for its own good.

Member Reviews

Average rating (Good Enough). Showing 1-3 of 3 member reviews.

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3 stars (Good Enough) Using his unconventional mash-up of interwoven characters and scenes, Alejandro brings us another film that steals the air from your lungs if not your heart from your chest. ~Tom H
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5 stars (Exceptional) Superb and courageous performances, especially from Sean Penn, that leave one with the feeling that life's tragedy might be transcended if we can only trust beyond our expectations. ~Donkey May Sing
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2 stars (Good Try) I don't know why he chose to complicate the story telling - if the story is strong enough then leave the bloody thing alone. I'll watch Charlotte G anytime, Naomi is fine and Benicio is never boring so there are some good points. ~Tubbs