Review of 21 Grams (2003) by Dillinger P — 14 Dec 2015

Inarritu has became something of a film making guru in recent years, with the Revenant and Birdman sweeping critics into a frenzy, however delving back into the extremely talented directors back catalogue, we find a plethora of work that is wonderfully art house and pretty essential viewing.

21 Grams is on paper and for most of its run time an astounding achievement in cinema, however its inability to round off a gripping story, with a second act bathing in self absorbtion, 21 Grams leaves you feeling, slightly let down with its final moments.

The film follows 3 different strangers, who's lives all intermingle around a horrid accident. 21 Grams decides to take the non linear approach, dipping in and out of these time lines, at whatever moment it deems fit and surprisingly it works perfectly, each scene feels completely isolated yet essential for the telling of the story.

It never feels confusing or intrusive, jumping about different time periods in character lives, with no sense of order or time scale and if anything its a testament to Innaritu for managing to pull this kind of trick off.

A large part of this is completely down to his cast, Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benecio Del Toro are all brutally effective, each of them having such a wonderful spark of energy and emotional weight required to drive home such a complex character piece.

However 21 Grams falters when it comes to wrapping up its story, what starts off as a wonderfully simple and heartfelt tale, soon derails itself completely into preposterous territory and it feels the need to wallow in this moment for as long as humanly possible.

The story works best when it is keeping it raw, simple and full of emotion, it doesnt work so well, when it continually repeats itself over and over again, with moments that add nothing new to the piece, characters will repeat actions and motivations continually almost for the sake of making it abundantly clear of the movies messages, just in case you were too lost too follow, the problem is that, there isnt much on offer here apart from a really contained story, one that really could have done with 20 minutes shaved off.

All in all 21 Grams is marvelously crafted, brilliantly acted and gripping when it centres solely on character, it wades into murky waters however with a weak final act and a sense of impending boredom.