21 Grams

Imagine that you are holding a beautiful vase in your hands. Examine the pattern on the outside of the vase, feel it, weigh it in your hands. Now imagine that you throw the vase against a wall as hard as you can, letting it shatter onto the floor. Now look at the scattered fragments of the vase and put the vase back together in your mind.

21 Grams, Alejandro Gonzalex Inarritu's follow-up to Amores Perros, is like that. And, certainly, the unconventional structure will be the most talked-about aspect of 21 Grams. Inarritu and his editors have assembled a single story and cut it into pieces, then they have edited these pieces together, at first seemingly at random. It is the audience's job to figure it out as the film goes on. At first, this is confusing, but as the movie continues, we start to put it all together, and it slowly forms into a cohesive whole. Scenes immediately fall into place, and the chronology soon becomes unimportant.

And after all, played out in chronological order, 21 Grams would lose some of its considerable power. The way it is pieced together allows us glimpses at different points in the characters' lives; we see one of them overcome with grief, and then we see them happy and content just a little bit earlier. This increases the shock of what we have seen and are going to see. Without the unusual style, 21 Grams would still be a wonderful, compelling film, but the overall impact would have been smaller.

21 Grams tells the story of three people whose lives are connected when a single tragic event ties them together. Sean Penn is Paul, a math professor with a bad heart. If he doesn't get a heart transplant soon, he is going to die within a month. His marriage to Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) has been falling apart for quite some time, but Mary refuses to let Paul die alone. Naomi Watts is Christine, a happily married woman whose life spins wildly out of control. And Benicio Del Toro is Jack, an ex-con who has accepted Christianity in an attempt to escape from his past. To tell more would be to give too much away.

With 21 Grams, Sean Penn has given another one of 2003's best male performances. His work here is more subdued than his in Mystic River, but it is no less impressive or powerful. Penn does more expressive acting with his eyes and body language than most actors can do with speech; his final, largely wordless (except for a voice-over) moments on screen are some of the most haunting of the year.

Naomi Watts continues to try new things and expand her range. Here, she opens herself up to the camera completely, both emotionally and physically, baring both her soul and her body. This is easily some of her best work, and it should net her the award recognition she was robbed of for Mulholland Drive.

As Jack, Benicio Del Toro gives his best performance since his Oscar-winning one in Traffic, and his work here is every bit as good, an unflattering portrayal of a damaged man haunted by what he has done. He loves Christ, but he still can't love himself, and much of Del Toro's performance is heart-breaking. I believe this is the best supporting performance of the year thus far.

It is rare for a film to have as many individual strengths as 21 Grams. The story, the acting, the chronology; it all adds up to an amazing film experience, one of the most memorable - and best - 2003 has to offer.

© 2003 Matt Noller