21 GRAMS (2003)

21 GRAMS
Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro

In the early 1900's Dr Duncan MacDougall began a series of experiments to prove that the soul had a mass and was, therefore, measurable and tangible. He would weigh patients as they were dying and measure the difference between their living weight and dead weight. The difference in weight would be the weight of the soul. Though his results varied greatly, the weight most commonly associated with the experiments was 21 grams.

Watching the film “21 Grams” is like putting together a puzzle. It's very similar to movies like “Memento” in which the narrative jumps around through the past, present, and future. It's an incredible story of love, forgiveness, and revenge involving three people from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in. Sean Penn plays Paul Rivers, a professor who is desperate need of a heart transplant. Naomi Watts is Christina Peck, a former junkie who has turned her life around and now has a loving husband and two beautiful daughters. Benicio Del Toro plays Jack Jordan, a recovered addict who has found religion and is now trying to get his life back together. The tragic event which brings their lives together is when Jack accidentally runs over Christina's husband and children with his car and then flees the scene. All three die, and Christina decides to donate her husband's organs. His heart goes to Paul.

This is just the set-up of a plot that is so intense and dramatic that it's hard to turn away. There's so much more to the movie, but because of the fragmented way that the story is presented to us, to tell any more in this review would be giving away too much. What I will tell you is that what you think is happening may or may not be the actual case.

Penn, Watts, and Del Toro all give performances that are nothing less than stellar. For Watts and Del Toro, this is easily the performances of their careers. The same would be true for Penn, except that his body of work is so good that it's hard to single out one performance as a peak. Without a doubt, however, this certainly lives up to the rest of his work.

“21 Grams” was nominated for two Oscars. Benicio Del Toro was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but he lost to Tim Robbins in “Mystic River”. The other nominees were Alec Baldwin in “The Cooler”, Djimon Hounsou in “In America”, and Ken Watanabe in “The Last Samurai”.

Naomi Watts earned a nomination of Best Actress. She lost to Charlize Theron in “Monster”. The other nominees were Samantha Morton in “In America”, Diane Keaton in “Something's Gotta Give”, and Keisha Castle-Hughes in “Whale Rider”.

This review was written on July 12, 2008