Chefgal and I went to see “21 Grams” this weekend. While it was fairly well acted, it seemed like a retread of the ideas from other films.
The flash-forward and flash-backward technique was done earlier and better in “Pulp Fiction”, and the whole “interconnectedness of the universe” thing has been done to death as far back as Frank Capra (Wonderful Life) and John Ford (Grapes of Wrath).
I really do not understand the adulation for this film by people like Roger Ebert and other critics. I did appreciate the point being made about judging others simply because of their pasts, but otherwise it seemed pretty ho-hum.
I saw the film last week and it put me in a major funk for the rest of the day. I concede that the ideas propelling it weren’t the most original, but the story and acting affected me heavily. Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro were brutal.
I was very impressed with the cinematography also. The film was beautifully shot and all of the scenes had a dark, oppresive feel. (I was especially impressed with the scene that focused solely on the lawn boy right before the accident. You don’t ever see the accident, but you know exactly what happens.)
Overall, I see why 21 Grams is such a critic fave. It’s not a popcorn film by any means, which is exactly the reason I like it.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I saw the trailer, and when they got to the bit about how “everyone loses 21 grams of weight at the moment of death” I had to physically restrain myself from yelling “Cite?” at the screen.
I saw it this past weekend. I was fairly ambivalent about it, but my friend hated it. She actually fell asleep during the movie.
As we were walking out I mentioned it reminded me of “Amores Perros”. When I got home I looked it up, and sure enough,
Alejandro González Iñárritu directed both.
The problem with arranging a film in a non-linear sequence is that the audience cannot develop empathy for the characters.
But the story here is just not compelling enough to be told any other way.
This always kills me. Someone who falls asleep during a movie can’t possibly “hate” it, because they haven’t seen it! She may have hated the bits she saw, but to say she hated the movie as a whole is crazy.
Whenever someone uses “I fell asleep” during a bad review, I always take several dozen points off their perceived IQ, and disregard anything else they have to say. It’s THE dumbest movie put-down in the universe. You can’t review a movie you haven’t seen.
This is probably one of those films that I will need to see a second time to fully appreciate. I get wrapped around the axle trying to figure out the plot and don’t pay enough attention to things like cinematography.
By the way, does anyone else think that Benicio del Toro is Brad Pitt’s twin separated at birth?
The falling asleep is a sign of the hatred, ** Equipoise **, not just an asside. If a movie is so boring as to drive someone to sleep, then, yeah, they probably did hate it.
-Lil
I think it’s an entirely valid criticism. (Assuming the person was reasonably well-rested before going into the theater, of course.) If a movie is so dull the human mind decides to shut itself down rather than keep watching, that sounds like a pretty bad movie to me.
It’s doubly valid during an action movie. If someone says they fell asleep during The Hours, I might chalk it up to Terminally Shortened Attention Span Syndrome, but if they fell asleep during, say, Batman & Robin, then that definetly says something about the quality of the movie.
I saw it Sunday, and was severely disappointed. The cinematography was well-done, but I’m rapidly getting tired of the washed-out, Black Hawk Down look. And while they obviously shot it very carefully, I see no reason to make every single scene in the movie look so shitty. The only scene in the entire flick that had natural, appealing light was the lunch between Sean Penn and Naomi Watts.
The story dragged at times, especially the final one-third or so when we’ve already pretty much figured out what’s going to happen and now we’re just waiting for the cast to get around to it. The moment when I finally completely gave up trying to like it was when the doctor tells Naomi Watts she’s pregnant with Sean Penn’s child. I wanted to shout at the screenwriter, “OK, now you’re just being SILLY!”
There were a few things I liked a lot: For one, the acting was superb, as you’d expect from such a terrific cast.
Most of all, though, I enjoyed location-spotting: The scenes in the city were shot here in Memphis, and I recognized probably half of them. I’m sure that New Yorkers get this all the time, but for a Memphian it was a treat to see my city recognizably on the big screen.
I think it’s more implied than overt.