Barnes & Noble

Extraordinarily fine acting and a gripping if disjunctive story distinguish this emotionally wrenching film from Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose Amores Perros (2000) heralded the arrival of an exciting new talent. Like the earlier movie, 21 Grams revolves around three disparate people and a tragic car accident that alters their lives forever. Sean Penn stars as a mathematician who, dying of a heart condition, desperately needs a transplant; Naomi Watts plays a married mother struggling with drug addiction; and Benicio del Toro essays the role of a former convict who relies on his newfound religious fundamentalism to keep him on the straight-and-narrow. Telling how their lives intersect would be giving away too much plot, but we can reveal that they come together in a profoundly sad way. Iñárritu uses fractured chronology to give us disjointed bits and pieces of the tale, a jigsaw-puzzle technique that pays off in the end but requires attentive viewing. He darts back and forth in time, revealing key moments in the lives of his principal characters but making us wait till story's end to learn how and why they add up. 21 Grams is full of human suffering and anguish, and like Iñárritu's breakout film, it seems morbidly preoccupied with death and fate -- but at the bottom it's about the innate ability of people to find a glimmer of hope in even the most hopeless situations. And the acting is commendable -- Penn and del Toro are great as usual, but Oscar-nominated Watts is a revelation. 21 Grams has something important to say about the human condition, and Iñárrita says it with the consummate style and sensitivity of a true art Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu makes his first English-language feature with the downbeat drama 21 Grams. Set in an unnamed U.S. urban center, the film uses a nonlinear structure to piece together the intertwined lives of three very different people. Paul (Sean Penn) is a math teacher with a heart problem and a troubled marriage to British wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Christine (Naomi Watts) is a former drug addict who lives with her husband, Michael (Danny Huston), and her daughters. Jack (Benicio del Toro) is a born-again Christian with a wife (Melissa Leo) who has stood by him since his days as a criminal. Following a tragic accident, the three main characters are thrown into each other's lives. 21 Grams was shown in competition at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 025192037580
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Time: 2:05:00