21 Grams (2003)

A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con.

Director:

Alejandro G. Iñárritu (as Alejandro González Iñárritu)

Writer:

Guillermo Arriaga

Stars:

Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 30 wins & 76 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Penn	...	Paul Rivers
Naomi Watts	...	Cristina Peck
Danny Huston	...	Michael
Carly Nahon	...	Cathy
Claire Pakis	...	Laura
Benicio Del Toro	...	Jack Jordan
Nick Nichols	...	Boy
Charlotte Gainsbourg	...	Mary Rivers
John Rubinstein	...	Gynecologist
Eddie Marsan	...	Reverend John
Loyd Keith Salter	...	Fat Man
Antef A. Harris	...	Basketball Guy
Melissa Leo	...	Marianne Jordan
Marc Musso	...	Freddy (as Marc Thomas Musso)
Teresa Delgado	...	Gina

Storyline

This is the story of three well-meaning but flawed people: Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married homemaker with two young daughters, with hiding a secret past; and Jack Jordan, an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to live a law-abiding life and raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives. By the final frame, none of them will be the same as they will have learnt harsh truths about love, faith, courage, desire and guilt, and how chance can change our worlds irretrievably, forever.

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Plot Keywords:

panties | voyeur | sex in bed | red panties | fondling | 

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Taglines:

How much does guilt weigh?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, sexuality, some violence and drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Bim Distribuzione [Italy] Focus Features [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 January 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

21 gram

Filming Locations:

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$274,454, 23 November 2003

Gross USA:

$16,290,476

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$60,427,839

Company Credits

Production Co:

This Is That Productions, Y Productions, Mediana Productions Filmgesellschaft

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Paul finds the photos of Cristina and her husband in a book, the book he is looking at is "Cruising Paradise", a collection of 40 stories about solitude and loss by playwright-actor Sam Shepard.

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Goofs

When Paul goes in for his heart transplant, a close-up shows a needle being used to give him an injection into an IV port. The IV port shown is a "needle-less" type and does not work with needled syringes.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Michael: Check, please.
Cathy: Look Daddy, a volcano.
[Cathy blows bubbles into her soft drink]
Michael: It's very pretty. Drink up your volcano. All right. We're going. Mommy's waiting.
Cathy: Daddy, please. Just one more minute.

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Crazy Credits

Thanks to ÁLos amo!

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Connections

Referenced in ER: Twenty-One Guns (2006)

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Soundtracks

Back There In My Mind
Written by Marty Jensen
Performed by Scott Eversoll
Courtesy of Marc Ferrari/MasterSource

User Reviews

Structure over unity

'21 Grams' tells of a number of loosely interlinked characters in an achronological fashion, jumping backwards and forwards over their stories. There can be reasons for doing this: for example, to reveal the plot in a way that offers an extra kick, or to enable the plot to conclude with a scene from the middle of the story that gains impact from the viewer's prior acquaintance with what happens next. Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction' justified its own complex plot structure on both of these grounds. But in the case of this film, I couldn't see how telling the story in such a broken way was supposed to add anything; and the fact that most of the leading characters possess a death wish (or at least, very little will to go on living) hardly aided my emotional involvement. At times, the film appeared to be shaping into a story about the possibility (or otherwise) of redemption; but it never quite grew into anything more the harrowing tale of a number of people who suffer and (in some cases) die. The pretentious voice-over from Sean Penn's character that ends the film (and accounts for its title) felt to me like a desperate (and failed) attempt to inject some meaning into a movie strangely devoid of it.

That said, the acting is good, and the film is undoubtedly skilfully made. But "people die" is not, in itself, an adequate or interesting unifying theme.