21 Grams [Blu-ray]

Good movie

21 grams is the kind of movie that makes you contemplate your own life and existence, and forces you to ponder the the meaning and interconnectedness of life itself.The movie sports a not-too complicated and jaw-droppingly ironic plot. The death of a man and his two children brings the lives of 3 people together in an odd and tragic turn of events. The really unique thing about the movie I felt was the way in which it was shot. Scenes from the movie are not only displayed out of chronological order, but scattered throughout the length of the movie in a seemingly random order. This was sheer briliance. It's also why you might find the plot a little hard to follow and a bit confusing at first. You'll constantly be asking which one was that, who was that guy, what just happened, where did that come from. For me this served two purposes: one it kept the movie very interesting and in deed captivating from begining to end (the movie would probably have felt more slow and dry if done traditionaly), two it almost seems like a metaphor for life. An illustration of what the movie is all about and trying to say. Sequences of scenes often make no sense untill later on, just as in life you often dont understand what happened untill looking back and connecting all the dots. Also the constant feeling of confusion and randomness does well to push the point that life just seems to happen and no one really knows what's going on or what's connected.The style of the shooting also does a great job of making you feel as if you arent watching a movie, but rather are just witnessing glimpses of moments of the actual lives of these people, scattered and momentarily incoherent untill finally we see how it's all connected. This really was fantastic I thought and very effective.The emotional impact is also extremely noteworthy. The movie studies how odd the events in life are, and how cruel life can be. Grief is one of the prime components of the film and the examination of how every action in the world bares a reaction. The events in the movie will often leave you just sitting there silent looking at the screen with a knot in your gut. Anyone who has experienced pain and loss will relate in a most personal way.The acting for this film was also excellent throughout. The whole cast did a great job, and the performances are not just believable but inspired.Most of all 21 grams pushes the point that we are all just kind of floating along through life, bumping into each other and being either victim or benefactor to a never ending line of factors that are beyond our control. is it fate, destiny, or the plan of some divine diety that puts us where we are, or is the universe just meaningless and we are all merely billiard balls randomly bumping into one another. 21 Grams examines, but offers no real answer to all these questions, and will at very least provide for some interesting conversation afterwards.If you're the type of person who likes phillosophy, or enjoys a well-done artistic movie about life that really makes you think, then this movie is for you.

I agree with the person who said she couldn't understand how someone would give this a low rating. If movies are just for entertainment, this is clearly not for you. But if you want to deal with the human condition, it is. I had to see it twice to appreciate it completely, and of course it takes some endurance to do so. It had me bawling for days.I think Arriaga intended some very deep symbolism here. Sean Penn's character appears to be a "Christ figure" in the movie. Towards the end, he grabs a gun and shoots himself while Naomi Watts and Benicio del Toro are fighting on the other side of the room. If he had done what we would normally expect and shot Benicio del Toro, the signs of reconciliation that we can detect near the end of the movie would not have beenpossible. He and Christina (Naomi Watts) would have spent the rest of the film running from the law or otherwise trying to hide the fact that they'd killed him, and, I suppose, justifying the act to themselvesbecause "he deserved it." But as it is, there is room for reconciliation at the end because of what Sean Penn does.I'll admit that my idea that there's reconciliation might seem doubtful to some of you. The reason I think there's a bit of reconciliation is that in one of the very last shots of the film, while the narrativevoice-over is on, you see Christina turn to Benicio del Toro while he speaks to her. I think that in a film like this, written by someone like Guillermo Arriaga, there is reason to read even small details like that in such an optimistic way. And actually, because the film is giving us what we could call a "God's-eye view" of these people's lives, the exact degree of Christina's reconciliation with Benicio del Toro's character is not that important. What is important is that Arriaga has shown us there is potential for reconciliation.And as you might guess, I interpret Christina's pregnancy at the end as being a sort of resurrection. She lost her family, and Sean Penn's love has given her another one. At the very end, you see her in her daughters'bedroom, cradling her pregnant abdomen and holding one of her daughter's stuffed animals. Earlier in the film, she had said she could not bear to step into their room.I also wonder if Arriaga intended Penn's wife to be a sort of representation of Law, given that she's always trying to "manage" his life and get him to do sensible things like not smoking. Much of what shedemands seems sensible, but in the context of his life, it doesn't seem to work. And you might notice that later, when he attempts to get Christina to stop using drugs, he is more understanding of her positionthan his wife had been of his. What finally gets her to stop using drugs (I assume) is the new life he has given her, rather than someone browbeating her.