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’21 Grams’ is a morose drama about three very different people who are bought together by a twist of fate, a tragic accident. The three involved are Cristina Peck (the magnificent Naomi Watts) as a married woman high on drugs and reliant on alcohol, Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) dying due to a failing heart and Jake Jordan (Benicio del Toro) as a criminal who becomes a born again Christian.
To state the accident would somewhat spoil the viewing, although not knowing anything may lead to some confusion as Iñárritu again uses the narrative techniques he used for his first hit ‘Amores Perros.’ His different techniques may leave you puzzled as he jumps back and forth, yet his direction and his fantastic actors manage to pull you in subtly every second.
This is the film that will make Naomi Watts a true star, it will give even more credit to the man of the moment, Sean Penn who is worryingly brilliant as a dying man. But, personally, it is Benicio Del Toro in a career-defining moment who stands out of the film. One wants to keep a distance from him but one realises he is a good man who has been dealt a bad hand. ‘21 Grams’ shows how destiny and fate work and that life truly does go on.
****
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