21 Grams

7.6

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Original title: 21 Grams
Year: 2003
Running time: 125 min.
Country: United States
Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Screenwriter: Guillermo Arriaga
Music: Gustavo Santaolalla
Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto
Cast: Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Naomi Watts, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Melissa Leo, Danny Huston, Clea Duvall, Chance Romero, Marc Musso, Paul Calderon
Producer: This is That, Y Productions (Distributor: Focus Features)
Genre: Drama | Ensemble Film
Synopsis / Plot: College professor Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) and his wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) find their union precariously balanced between life and death. He is mortally ill and awaiting a heart transplant, while she hopes to become pregnant with his child through artificial insemination. Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts), having matured since her reckless past, is a beloved older sister to Claudia (Clea DuVall), a good wife to Michael (Danny Huston) and loving mother to two little girls. Her family radiates hope and joy. Much farther down the socioeconomic scale, ex-con Jack Jordan (Benicio Del Toro) and his wife Marianne (Melissa Leo) struggle to provide for their two children while Jack reaffirms his commitment to religion.
A tragic accident that claims several lives places these couples in each other's orbit. In the aftermath, Paul confronts his own mortality, Cristina takes action to come to terms with her present and perhaps her future, and Jack's faith is put to the test. If spiritual equilibrium is to be regained by any one of them, it could come at great cost to the others. Yet the will to live, and the instinct to reach out to another person for support, remains ever-present among them all.

Awards: 2003: Academy Awards: 2 Nominations for Best Actress (Watts) and Supporting Actor

2003: BAFTA Awards: 5 Nominations, inc. Best Actors (Penn & Del Toro) and Actress (Watts)

2004: Cesar Awards: Nominated for Best Foreign Language Picture

2003: Venice Film Festival: Audience Award

2003: National Board of Review: Best Actor (Sean Penn)

2003: New York Film Critics Circle: Nominated for Best Actress (Watts)

Show 6 more awards

2003: Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Actress (Naomi Watts).4 Nominations

2003: Critics' Choice Awards: 2 Nominations for Best Actress (Watts), Supp. Actor (Del Toro)

2003: Independent Spirit Awards: Special Distinction Award

2003: Screen Actors Guild (SAG): Nom., Best Actress (Watts) & Supp. Actor (Del Toro)

2003: Chicago Film Critics Awards: 3 Nom. for Best Actress (Watts) & Screenplay

2003: Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Nominated for Best Actress (Naomi Watts)

Critics' reviews

"A ruminative, stunned look at life after death -- that is, the existence of the living after they have been devastated by loss (...) Be prepared for it. You won't come out unaffected, because the depths of intimacy that the Mexican director plumbs here are so rarely touched by filmmakers that ''21 Grams'' is tantamount to the discovery of a new country."

Elvis Mitchell: The New York Times
"A miracle: tough, smart, relentless, provocative and, above all, serious"

Stephen Hunter: The Washington Post
"A capital-M movie, and the most flagrant kind: Heavy emotion, heavy style, and lite philosophy"

Wesley Morris: Boston Globe
"Blessed with one of the strongest casts of any American movie this year, this bravura film, with its radical structure, is full of risk and reward."

Michael Wilmington: Chicago Tribune
"The depths of intimacy that the Mexican director Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu plumbs here are so rarely touched by filmmakers that 21 Grams is tantamount to the discovery of a new country."

Elvis Mitchell: The New York Times
"That Inarritu shapes something redemptive out of blasted lives is proof that he is a filmmaker of rare and startling grace (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"

Peter Travers: Rolling Stone

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Ranking Lists Position

9 My Top 10 Movies from 2003 (387)
35 My Favorite Dramas (267)
44 Movies with Skillful Editing (27)
64 My Top 20 Movies from the 2000s (98)
66 My 10 favorite active Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (8)
77 Movies with a Great Female Lead (40)
78 Movies I Own (1046)
91 Movies I Want to Watch (old releases) (2754)

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