21 Grams

A film about guilt, redemption, a desire for revenge, love and forgiveness. Those sound like weighty tags to put on a film, but 21 Grams, a worthy Oscar contender, is really intelligent stuff by a talented Mexican director whose debut film Amores Perros (2000) was equally impressive.

As in Amores Perros, a car accident interweaves the lives of various strangers who up until the beginning of the film, would not necessarily have met at all. A College don Paul Rivers (Penn) needs a heart transplant if he is to live for very long, his wife Mary (Gainsbourg) wants a baby by him and commitment but is he prepared to give it? Cristina (Watts) is the older sister of Claudia (Clea DuVall) who has a loving husband Michael (Danny Huston) and two beautiful girls. In another household, and ex-con Jack Jordan (Del Toro) and his wife Marianne struggle to bring up two children. Jack has turned to religion in an effort to find a way to a better life but their lives, all their lives are about to change.

Impressively switching between the different lives of these characters, a story evolves that is intelligently told and never short of involving. Inárritu gives the cast full reign to demonstrate with conviction their what may be happening to the characters as things happen to them. It can be both explosive and heartbreaking, but its never short of convincing with such a marvellous screenplay and with the assured Inárritu at the helm. As a result, all the leads : Watts, Del Toro and Penn give good performances and therefore no surprise that at the Venice Film Festival 2003, Penn picked up the Best Actor award and Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts won audience awards. It may not contain that many laughs but you won’t miss that, this is a gripping drama that is strong from start to finish.

Matt Arnoldi