Review of 21 Grams (2003) by Steve D — 31 May 2014

One of the most powerful films to come out in my lifetime! Alejandro Iñárritu puts dark and disturbing things in front of us here, but for some reason the only word I can think that does this film any justice is "beautiful.".

This film has a lot to say, and while the nonlinear narrative and structuring may throw some people off, it's still a profound film that explores many difficult subjects. This film looks to explore subjects ranging from simple right and wrong to the human psyche and why we even exist. What made this film so powerful to me was easily the way Iñárritu composed it. He jumps around in time, but he never shows you anything too soon. Tracking with it was a bit of a chore at times, but I didn't care because the filmmaking talent was so mind-blowing.

One of my favorite aspects of the film was the performances, more specifically Benicio Del Toro. I expect great things from Sean Penn and Naomi Watts at this point in their careers, but Benicio Del Toro just totally blew my mind. I hadn't seen "Traffic" or "Snatch" prior to this point so I simply knew him as the guy from "The Wolfman." I loved that I didn't know whether to side with his character or not. Whenever a character is very complex or it's difficult to understand their motives I'm always more drawn to them. Benicio had me convinced the whole way that he was hurt, and losing faith. A beautiful performance!

The visual style was very interesting to me as well. The cinematography was fairly basic through most of it, but actually what surprised me was the way that Iñárritu composed the sex scene between Penn and Watts. It was very beautiful, and not overly sexualized. This is what I think sex scenes should be: it was shot to fit the tone, and not simply to turn on the viewer. It was very beautiful and elegant.

Overall this was an incredible film that I saw a lot of inspiration in. Mr. Iñárritu, you have my attention.