Review of 21 Grams (2003) by Jason F — 08 Jun 2009

This film's jumbled narrative is a beautiful mosaic of human agony, threaded with an unflinching atmosphere of doom. Alejandro González Iñárritu imbues this masterwork with a gritty, bleak aesthetic quality, which serves well to the grim melodrama of the screenplay.

This is a painful, intricate ensemble piece full of unsettling insight and stirring character dynamics, but none of it would have amounted to what it does without the performances. To pinpoint any of the actors in this film as being a standout would be unfair.

The three lead actors (Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts) do work here that is so explosively convincing that it's hard to watch. The entire supporting cast is excellent as well, in a film that I would be hard-pressed to indentify any flaws in.

This is instantly one of my favorites.