21 Grams

I hate to say it, but I really didn't like this movie. It has a pretty simple story that is only intricately told to make it look more interesting, I feel it rather hurt the film. I found the flashbacks very hard to navigate, even more so when the film is so terribly boring, slow and not to mention emotional. Sean Penn's worst role yet. For me, a waste of time and all that hype even gave me a headache. (06/06/2014)

The moodily gritty, gloomy, shaky camerawork reinforces the realism of the world depicted in 21 Grams. The chronological disjointedness of the plot comprising three individual, interlinked stories promotes consideration of the composition of connections. The stories were originally supposed to play out sequentially, one after the other as in Amores Perros, but the director chose a more “chaotic” variant. This whole formalistically ambitious work follows the emotional suffering of the characters and is triumphant as a result. It is both interesting and emotionally compelling. However, it isn’t entirely successful. It’s not a brilliant jigsaw puzzle with an unmistakable distribution of conflict points (Memento), because it DOES simply feel like the scattering of the various plot lines was unnecessary and is only an attempt to turn silver into gold. Nor is it a devastating emotional explosion (Magnolia), because although the director avoids sentimentality (which is fine), he shies away from unrestrained, cruel baring of human intimacy (which is a shame) in the manner of Lars von Trier, who strips his characters of their clothes and has more respect for them. (03/08/2004)

Another Iñárritu version of Amores perros, but this time with Hollywood actors. I still don't feel any particular connection or empathy for the characters that one might expect given the structure of the story and the escalating situations they go through. In short, 21 Grams is another example of manipulation of feelings. You need to subject the heroes to absolute suffering, then entangle and connect the stories, and then increase the suffering. That's what it's all about - about suffering, about denying yourself, about finding a way out. There’s too much violence in proportion to one meter of film. (06/15/2017)

In the first twenty minutes I thought, if I understand this, I'll be good. And world wonder, the connections started to work and I could see a truly perfect whole that is full of emotion, drama and well, just something you have to watch from start to finish to understand what initially is impossible to grasp. 21 Grams stands a cut above Alejandro González Iñárritu previous Amores Perros and deserves a full score for the theme, the acting, the music and the atmosphere, which was very dense at times. (12/04/2009)

This is really strong. A piece of brilliant and unconventional filmmaking that may not be to everyone's taste, and the shards of the fragmented story are not easy to pick up, especially at first, but if you're having your day and agree to Iñárritu's challenging mind game, it could very well be the film experience of a lifetime. I obviously had my day and now I can't help but praise it to the skies. The complex frame composition, on which even an experienced filmmaker would have failed, was so impressive and in harmony with the depressing story that each additional cut meant for me a deeper immersion into the plot and more empathy for all the amazing characters. The performances, by the way, are another extensive chapter that could be written on the subject of 21 Grams. The central trio of Penn, Del Toro and Watts is clearly Oscar-worthy – for actors to go to such lengths for their roles and squeeze every last drop of the best out of themselves is something you really don't see that often. And if much of the story is motivated by a direct assault on the viewer's emotions (which cannot be denied), the resulting form is so authentic and believable that the frozen audience is unlikely to realize any creative machinations. A second viewing is inevitable and participation in at least my top 20 is up in the air. (06/19/2013)