21 Grams (2003)
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins
Theatrical Release: Nov 21, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $16,162,920
Synopsis: 21 Grams is the new film from the Academy Award-nominated director of Amores Perros, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. It is a story of hope and humanity, of resilience and survival. Whether you fear death or not, it comes, and at that moment your body becomes twenty-one grams lighter. Is it a... 21 Grams is the new film from the Academy Award-nominated director of Amores Perros, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. It is a story of hope and humanity, of resilience and survival. Whether you fear death or not, it comes, and at that moment your body becomes twenty-one grams lighter. Is it a person's soul that constitutes those twenty-one grams? Is that weight carried by those who survive us? The lead actors in 21 Grams are three-time Academy Award nominee Sean Penn, Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro, and award-winning actress Naomi Watts. The actors were all honored at the film's world premiere at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival, where Sean Penn won Best Actor and Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts earned the Audience Awards for Best Actor and Actress. 21 Grams, written by Guillermo Arriaga (Amores Perros), explores the emotionally and physically charged existences of three people over a period of several months. An accident unexpectedly throws their lives and destinies together, in a story that will take them to the heights of love, the depths of revenge, and the promise of redemption. College professor Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) and his wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) find their union precariously balanced between life and death. He is mortally ill and awaiting a heart transplant, while she hopes to become pregnant with his child through artificial insemination. Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), having matured since her reckless past, is a beloved older sister to Claudia (Clea DuVall), a good wife to Michael (Danny Huston) and loving mother to two little girls. Her family radiates hope and joy. Much farther down the socioeconomic scale, ex-con Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) and his wife Marianne (Melissa Leo) struggle to provide for their two children while Jack reaffirms his commitment to religion. A tragic accident that claims several lives places these couples in each other's orbit. In the aftermath, Paul confronts his own mortality, Cristina takes action to come to terms with her present and perhaps her future, and Jack's faith is put to the test. If spiritual equilibrium is to be regained by any one of them, it could come at great cost to the others. Yet the will to live, and the instinct to reach out to another person for support, remains ever-present among them all. -- © Focus Features [More]
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo
Screenwriter: Guillermo Arriaga Jordan
Producer: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Ted Hope, Robert Solerno
Composer: Gustavo Santaolaya
DVD Info
Release:
Oct 3, 2006
DVD Features:
- Region 1
- Snap Case
- Anamorphic Widescreen
Audio:
- (unspecified) - English
Buy It On DVD
Reviews
Une oeuvre d'une rare intensité dramatique qui n'a aucunement besoin de suivre un cheminement narratif classique pour susciter une vive réaction chez le spectateur
The structure simply doesn't let any of the characters build an arc of growth or despair.
Hay películas que te impactan y películas que te afectan. 21 Grams pertenece al segundo grupo.
The performances, by and large, outweigh the film's unnecessary metaphorical gunk.
Quel est le poids de l’amour, de la vengeance et de la culpabilité? À vous de le découvrir.
... a hurricane of melodrama and implausibly accelerating crises that seem orchestrated merely to turn up the intensity. ... At 125 minutes, [it] feels more like 240.
21 Grams thrashes wildly...exhorting us to feel something. Apart from the fleeting satisfaction of its structural parlor game, I felt little...save exhausted boredom.
Absorbs you and dissects its tale of life, death, and re-birth with inventive force.
21 Grams achieves its objectives and, despite its flaws, is thoroughly entertaining.
21 Grams...is intelligent, well-written, and told with a unique style, and it features some of the best acting presently available.
its boldly atomised narrative, its labyrinthine circularity and its no-nonsense performances make 21 Grams... well worth the weight.
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