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January 2, 2004
21 Grams
21 Grams (IMDB) uses disjunctive editing to reflect not only on the nature of cinematic time but on the nature of existence itself. Guillermo Arriaga's scrrenplay, Alejandro González Iñárritu's careful direction, and Rodrigo Prieto's gritty cinematography (the three also collaborated on Amores Perros) combine with solid performances from Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro to create a challenging, thoughtful film.
21 Grams opens with a grainy shot of Paul (Penn) and Cristina (Watts) reclining nude on a bed, each lost in his or her thoughts before a series of disconnected shots takes us on a whirlwind tour of their lives: Cristina at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, Paul in various doctors offices learning that he has only a few months to live, and Jack (Del Toro) in a Pentecostal church after reforming from a life of crime. As the Village Voice review points out, their lives--their connections to family--seem to contain a seed of fragility within them (in this sense, the parallels between Cristina's family and Jack's family, reproduced by the associative editing technique, seem crucial). This fragility--the sense of contingency--becomes the primary subject of the film as the characters' stories gradually come together as a result of a car accident that kills Cristina's husband and two daughters.
As the film unfolds, we gradually learn that Paul is a professor of mathematics, and he reflects at one point that "there are so many things that have to happen for two people to meet." Of course, viewers know that Paul has manipulated the situation; seeking to repay his debt to his heart donor, Paul has paid a private detective to find Cristina, but I don't think that negates the film's philosophical premise about time and contingency. Instead, I read that moment as a genuine attempt to understand why Paul's life was spared while another life ended so suddenly.
Prieto's cinematography (he also did the camerawork in 25th Hour and Frida, among other films), utilizing grainy, handheld, close-up shots beautifully reinforces this sense of uncertainty; many of the images, including the shots of Cristina and Paul in bed together, appear washed out, creating an effect of a new form of realism that I'm still at a loss to describe (although I witnessed something similar in 25th Hour as well as All the Real Girls).
As Cindy of making contact notes, the film isn't perfect: Penn's voice-over narration (where we learn the title of the film) was unnecessary and overly-sentimental. 21 Grams also privileges the traditional family as the site of happiness (implicit in the fragile nature of both Cristina and Jack's families, and to a lesser extent in Paul's wife's desire to bear Paul's child). Overall, the film mediates the relationship between time, cinema, and death in a fascinating way. The use of associative, non-linear editing serves a clear purpose here, unlike the gimmicky and shallow film, Irreversible (scroll down for my review). Instead of a simple fall from grace, the very possibility of grace (embodied in Jack's struggles to hang on to his very tenuous faith) becomes contingent upon a bewildering set of accidents, although the film does not at all negate Jack, Paul, and Cristina's struggles.
(Once again, I've found a film that challenges me deeply--I'm not sure my review can come close to capturing the complexity of 21 Grams.)
Recommended Reviews: Steven Shaviro, making contact, Village Voice.
Posted by chuck at January 2, 2004 5:53 PM
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Comments
I've just come from 21 grams and am pleased to find this intelligent review. I've never seen anything like this film; it completely engrossed me and everything seemed right. For instance, when I saw the Watts' character buying "candy" I said uh oh, blatent foreshadowing. But it wasn't. Yes, all the acting was great, but Sean Penn is so sensitive and so intense. I disagree about the comment that the narrative was overly sentimental because I think tragedy must have pity.
Posted by: norma zimmer at February 9, 2004 12:33 AM
I would need to see the film again to confirm my original reading of it, but you may be right about the narration. His comments are certainly consistent with Penn's character, and I'm still amazed that something so powerfully downbeat could get made by a major studio. Thanks for the compliment on my review.
Posted by: chuck at February 9, 2004 12:47 AM
I am doing a paper for my French New Wave Cinema class comparing this film to Alain Resnais' Hiroshima mon amour
Have you seen that movie? Do you see some similarities?
Posted by: Jodi Guyot at April 20, 2004 2:53 PM
Wow--it's been a long time since I saw "Hiroshima," so I can't really help much. Now that I think about it, off the top of my head, the opening sequences have some visual similarities (the couple reclining nude in bed, for example). Wish I could help more, but I haven't seen the Resnais film in about five years. Good luck on your paper. It sounds like a really interesting project.
Posted by: chuck at April 20, 2004 4:07 PM