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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

Cast

Music

Gustavo Santaolalla

Cinematography

Rodrigo Prieto

Producer

This is That, Y Productions. Distributor: Focus Features

Genre

Drama | Ensemble Film

Movie Groups

Death Trilogy

Synopsis

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.

Rankings Position

#110 Best Movies of the 21st century

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)

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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 (402)
34 My Favorite Dramas (279)
44 Movies with Skillful Editing (28)
66 My Top 20 Movies from the 2000s (104)
75 Movies with a Great Female Lead (43)
81 Movies I Own (1051)
83 My 10 favorite active Film Directors and my favorite movie of each one of them (8)
85 Movies I Want to Watch (old releases) (3064)

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21 Grams

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