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The film is in no order whatsoever. It switches back and forth between three different lives that eventually combine into one dramatic story. This one has some of the finest performances of the year. Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro were greatly cast and make the film along with the help of the director, Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu. He knows what hes doing here people. I felt that he knew exactly what was to be accomplished in the telling of this intense story. It is told with grace and great care, with attention to detail. I liked how the emotions of each character are brought out in such a way as to be powerful.
The story goes that Benicio Del Toro is a man struggling to keep a life that is faithful to God, but fails as he kills the father and two daughters of a family, leaving only the mother (Watts). Penn plays a soon-to-be father who is having problem with his wife. He finds that he has major heart problems and needs a new one. The father (Watts husband) who Del Toro killed has the same blood type as Penn and receives the heart in an operation. After sort of separating from his wife, Penn finds the wife of the donor, and tries to befriend her. After some arguments, Watts finds that Penn has her husbands heart. It was an intriguing and very dramatic piece of storytelling that could have been great.
But the thing that I felt totally ruined everything about the film that was good was, 1: language, and 2: sexual content. Really people, would a minister use foul language while trying to bring back a convicted criminal who was once a pious follower of God? And would a woman who found the man with her deceased husbands heart have sex with that man? No. It just wouldnt happen.
Im a huge fan of realism where necessary, and preposterousness when needed. But when the two combine, I cant take the rest of the film seriously. And it made me angry, because this had the potential to be one of the best films of the year.
21 Grams is certainly not the feel-good film of the season, like you might expect. It doesnt end happily; the problems arent resolved; no one goes home happy. And its likely you wont either. Wonderfully executed, but utterly disappointing, 21 Grams will be compelling for awhile but then let you down. What an effort, though.** .