21 Grams

Three stars

Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. Screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga. Released by Focus Features. Rated R (for language, sexuality, some violence and drug use). Running time: 125 minutes.

The cast

Paul Sean Penn
Jack Benicio Del Toro
Cristina Naomi Watts
Mary Charlotte Gainsbourg
Marianne Melissa Leo
Claudia Clea DuVall

by Michael Drakulich

Were it not for terrific plotting and excellent, crafty directing, "21 Grams" could pass as a made-for-television movie.

Its characters are so over the top, they border on stereotypes. There is Paul (Sean Penn), a college math professor suffering from heart failure. While he waits for a transplant, he battles with his wife over his infidelity and whether they should have children.

Jack, Paul’s polar opposite, is a born-again ex con sincerely trying to eke out a meager existence, and believes Jesus will help him through.

Cristina (Naomi Watts) lies somewhere between the two. She’s a recovering substance abuser who has cleaned up her act to live a "perfect" upper middle class life. She resorts to coke and booze to numb the pain after her husband and children are killed.

And the situations that yoke these three together are nearly as melodramatic as the characters themselves.

We know the result of these three being brought together will be catastrophic. In one early scene, the three are in a seedy motel room and both men are covered in blood. A few cuts later we see Jack frantically driving Paul and Christine to the hospital.

What the film questions is whether their intersection is predetermined or by chance.

The title refers to the weight each body loses at the time of death. As Paul lays in a hospital bed on a ventilator, he hear his voice as he mulls whether it is merely biological, say the weight of air being expelled from the lungs? Or is it more metaphysical, in which 21 grams is the weight of one's soul.

Though Inarritu broaches these philosophical questions, it’s rather superficial treatment. He seems more concerned with nature of how his characters meet and their resulting instincts toward self-preservation or self-destruction.

Inarritu puts most of his creative energy into plotting the story in a non-linear style that mirrors randomness. That is his major accomplishment here and he does it so exceptionally well, we almost forget about the film’s deficiencies.

The back and forth cuts in sequence he uses reveal just enough information to keep us interested.

One scene we see Cristina in an AA-type meeting, then a few scenes later she’s in a bar bathroom snorting coke. We can’t tell which one is supposed to come first or how exactly they relate to each other, so it heightens our sense of anticipation.

What also helps the film is that despite the stock characters, all three lead actors do the most they can with them.

Sean Penn’s best performance this year is right here because he has more to work with.

His character requires a deft touch because of the physical suffering and guilt he feels. While he wheezes and weakens throughout the film, the viewer sees the difference between the two and knows the precise moment when emotional suffering eclipses the physical.

Jack teeters on the brink of violence as he feels his faith beginning to wane. Del Toro gives only brief but thoroughly convincing glimpses of that loss of control. It is an added layer to Jack who sees religion as a last chance at redemption, and realizes it may ultimately fail him.

Watts plays emotionally unstable well. She did it in the second half of "Mulholland Drive," and continues here as a woman whose happiness is precariously balanced on the survival of others.

There will be the critics of this film that argue neither this nor any other film can give the real feel of randomness because film itself is organized to produce a desired effect. That may be an inherent flaw no film can over-come.

But we cannot just dismiss Inarritu’s creative approach. It is good, risky, exciting work from a talented director.
*
Michael Drakulich is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association. He may be reached at (708) 802-8841 or via e-mail at mdrakulich@starnewspapers.com