21 Grams

[brockly]

Just got back from it and I really liked it alot. I'll have to seek out Love's a Bitch now.

[Gold Trumpet]

The film was about emotional extremes fragmented off into different scenes and not hitting every emotional note in every scene to show a wider range acting ability. The three principals in this film were denied a cathartic release of the emotional pendulum sometimes experienced, and that was precisely the point- taking various snapshots of life, all different and varied, the highs and lows, but all of which are infinitely tied together to examine the human condition.

The problem wasn't that the actors were denied this release, but that with each scene of a fragmented emotion, I sometimes thought they weren't carrying their character over. These charges mainly lie with Naomi Watts though. I thought her performance of happy family going mom was just that, a cliche in which the mom always laughs at the little things her children does, the perfect household and situation as typified by bad movies. I saw a different character in the drug bing scene, a different character when she was planning the murder, a different character when she was isolated and alone. Now, Watts did have to deal with a script that realistically, to detail emotional impact, should have left out most of the bad things in this movie, but I got the feeling she approached each scene generally, maybe thinking, "OK, I'm now going to drug binge scene, how do i play the drug seductress?" I realize I'm breaking hearts here so remember its just an opinion. People compare this movie to Magnolia and in my mind, as with all things happening in that emotional roller coaster ride, the characters at least felt to me organically whole through out the entire film.

f anything, the Emma Thompson scene you identify is far less organic and far more "Oscar Acting 101."

Disagree with the performance, fine, but a better description exists than 'Oscar Acting 101'. Those guys make it a habit to honor Renee Zelwegger. Thompson's acting would be labeled as more theatrical.

[Pubrick]

I realize I'm breaking hearts here

you're winning mine.  

[modage]

REVISED (SLIGHTLY BETTER/WORSE) COVER ART

[NEON MERCURY]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^.....much better..excpet for the "An extroadinary story......."...thats stupid...to put that there.....

***a note to marketers.....loose the cheesy "tagline".....


....BTW...del toro does have the most "film-like" eyes.......

[Jeremy Blackman]

Good cover, but there's a spoiler in the middle.

[MacGuffin]

Good cover, but there's a spoiler in the middle.

But wasn't that the opening shot of the film?

[Jeremy Blackman]

Still.

[Chest Rockwell]

Good cover, but there's a spoiler in the middle.

But wasn't that the opening shot of the film?

I was thinking the exact same thing, Macguffin.

[Jeremy Blackman]

That's why it's a spoiler!  

[picolas]

for some reason, that looks really Christmasy to me.

[godardian]

Of all the important film people whose year-end picks Film Comment saw fit to share with us, only Paul Schrader mentioned 21 Grams. Hooray for Paul, shame on the rest of them. A great many mentioned Mystic River, which I find more unbearably overestimated each time I read yet another effusion about it. It's solid, nothing special. You'd think people had never seen a well-crafted, straightforward, good little movie before. I was hardly blown away; in fact, because of the expectation built up for the damn thing, I was very underwhelmed and had to talk myself into accepting that it's a good movie, however far it falls short of the disproportionate praise.

GT, I couldn't disagree with you more about Naomi Watts in this film. "Organic" and "restrained" are not synonymous, and the idea that "organic" is automatically the highest achievement in any creative endeavor seems extremely suspicious to me.

[Gold Trumpet]

GT, I couldn't disagree with you more about Naomi Watts in this film. "Organic" and "restrained" are not synonymous, and the idea that "organic" is automatically the highest achievement in any creative endeavor seems extremely suspicious to me.

I never said organic is the highest achievement for anything. I'm just dealing with my points in relation to just this performance. Watts was emotional, tragic and believable as a woman in turmoil, but I think the script and her performance just failed to capture higher vision. It was too fragmented for me.

[SoNowThen]

Basically what I said before.

The movie was good, it just failed to take off, it never managed to become transcendent. That's the pitfall of this type of style, I think. There's never any restraint, so it's hard to have that shining moment at the end. However, that was the beauty of the windblower shot, it was such a different presentation than the rest of the film, that's what helped make it the high point.

[Gold Trumpet]

Basically what I said before.

The movie was good, it just failed to take off, it never managed to become transcendent. That's the pitfall of this type of style, I think. There's never any restraint, so it's hard to have that shining moment at the end. However, that was the beauty of the windblower shot, it was such a different presentation than the rest of the film, that's what helped make it the high point.

I'm not even sure I'd fault the style though. Like I said, I thought the film didn't edit that well when it could have. Half the cuts seemed warranted on connecting emotional strands, half didn't. I also think the story lingered too long on emotional outburst than it should have. Limiting that may have made the them even more powerful and shocking. Also, too many different avenues of extremes searched out in the movie where it seemed like just an exercise on how far the film could go. I wouldn't say I had anything against the style on basis, but this movie didn't amaze me.