The Weight of the Soul

My life's been awash in the pull of momentous turning tides, and I've faced countless daunting crises- The moment was boasting nighttime and quite frigid, (-7, actually: well amid the depths of one of the harshest Midwest winters immemorial). I went alone to see this film.

Riveted to the screen, I was witness to raw nature and circumstance; I was witness to stark fate. Driving home the premise that it's pure ordained destiny that both joins human souls and tears them from each other, this movie is just devastating. Yet I had already sensed that this would be one of those rare films that tend to disturb the senses to a degree that sets the mind to thinking - haunting one's days and nights for weeks and months to come. Yes, by my troth I do live dangerously!

21 GRAMS tells the story of three troubled yet essentially good people whose lives become deeply connected through a horrific accident: Paul Rivers (Sean Penn), an unhappily married and terminally ill mathematician who's in desperate need of a heart transplant - Christina Peck (Naomi Watts), a former drug addict who's since become wife of an architect and mother of two children - and Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro), a former convict become a born-again Christian, who's rebuilding his life with his wife, Marianne (Melissa Leo), and their two little children. One fateful evening on the way home, Jack's truck collides with Christina's husband, Michael (Danny Huston), and her two daughters- killing all three. Paul then gets an 11th-hour reprieve from death - as he becomes the recipient of Michael's heart. While he recovers from the transplant, he becomes obsessed with finding, and then getting to know, Christina- the living victim of the devastating tragedy that had served to give him this new lease on life. Meanwhile, Jack is tortured and wracked by guilt - he had panicked and left the scene of the accident. Despite the pleading protests of his wife, he turns himself in to police. (Melissa Leo. incidentally, is excellent as Jack's devoted & strong-willed wife, who in one scene is worked up into a passion reminiscent of Shakespeare's Lady MacBeth). It's the three leads, in fact, who turn out one of the most intense, outstanding dramatic performances by a cast I've ever seen. Penn, Toro, and Watts each put forth heart-wrenching depictions of grief, despair, love and rage. They were riveting to watch.

Director Alejandro González Iñárritu is at the helm of this film, and he deserves significant credit too. The movie's shot with a sort of raw, gritty and real-to-life imagery, but sequenced non-chronologically and without much music. Furthermore, there's quite a lot of grainy artifact and symbolism present, harshly imbuing the sounds, the words and the images with an ominous gloom. It might indeed be easy to fathom that any film with such qualities embedded would ultimately surmount to a rather morose, distracting, and basically disjointed mess. Yet somehow this film's neither imposingly heavy nor wholly depressing. On the contrary, 21 GRAMS is a subtly beautiful, powerfully atmospheric, and hypnotically captivating work of art~

A Dark & Painful Drama - Not For The Faint Of Heart!

"21 Grams" is the grim story of three strangers whose lives are intertwined by a fatal car crash. Christina Peck, (Naomi Watts), a young wife and mother of two small daughters, loses her entire family in a horrific car accident. Before her marriage, she was apparently a "hardy partyer," and a former drug addict. Unable to cope with her enormous grief, she isolates herself and begins using again, adding alcohol to the drug mix. Jack Jordan, (Benicio Del Toro), a reformed ex-con with a wife and two children of his own, drove the speeding pickup truck that struck and killed Christina's family. He is a Born Again Christian who will go through his own spiritual hell following the tragedy. Melissa Leo gives an outstanding performance as Jack's long suffering, loyal wife. At one point she informs her husband that, "Life has to go on, with or without God." Sean Penn plays Paul Rivers, a 40ish mathematics professor dying of heart disease. If he doesn't receive a transplant within a month or so he will die. His marriage has been on the skids for some time but his British wife Mary, (Charlotte Gainsbourg), returns to him, ostensibly to encourage him to follow medical treatment until a heart becomes available. It soon becomes clear, however, that she has come back to have Paul sire a child before he dies. He finally receives a heart and Christina's husband is the donor.

To call this film intense is an understatement. I experienced some serious emotional pain during the 125 minute running time and found myself questioning why I was putting myself through such an ordeal. And make no mistake, much of this is extremely painful material, from the moment one sees Penn wheezing for breath while stealing what could be a final smoke, to watching Watts learn that her family is no more, while being advised that it is best not to view the remains, through experiencing Del Toro's tormenting doubts about whether he betrayed Christ or Christ betrayed him, as he burns the tattooed cross off his arm. This is not easy entertainment, nor is it a film for those with a low pain threshold. Yet Mexican writer/director team Guillermo Arriaga and Alejandro González Iñárritu, (Amores Perros), have put together an extremely powerful, compelling, character-driven tale and the performances are brilliant, as one would expect from such a superb ensemble cast. The film's sequence is not in chronological order, but this lack of linear intent did not disturb me at all. I adjusted fairly easily to the movie's collage-like rhythms. It was the constant darkness and suffering that wore me down. The ending did not disappoint me as it did some others. I actually found it to be somewhat poetic, but I won't give it away. This is worth seeing for the acting alone - but only for the strong of heart!
JANA

Another hit for Penn

Sean Penn is one of the most talented actors in Hollywood, and any film of his is a great one. The plot was great, jumped around a timeline without warning, but not impossible to follow. Great story of how lives can become entwined amidst tragedy. Not the absolute best film of the year, but close.