FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: 21 Grams [DVD] [2004]

21 Grams [DVD] [2004]
enlarge	Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Actors: Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Naomi Watts, Danny Huston, Carly Nahon Studio: MGM Entertainment Category: DVD List Price: ~~£19.99~~ Buy Used: £0.98 as of 22/11/2009 21:55 GMT details You Save: £19.01 (95%) New (4) Used (51) from £0.98 Seller: mtcbooks Rating: 47 reviews Sales Rank: 7546 Format: PAL Languages: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), English (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 125 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5050070022476 ASIN: B00029QWI8 Theatrical Release Date: December 26, 2003 Release Date: September 13, 2004 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Sean Penn and Benecio Del Toro, two of the most gripping actors around, play wildly different men linked through a grieving woman (Naomi Watts) in i21 Grams/i. Del Toro delves deep into the role of an ex-con turned born-again Christian, a deeply conflicted man struggling to set right a terrible accident, even at the expense of his family. Penn captures a cynical, philandering professor in dire need of a heart transplant, which he gets from the death of Watts' husband. i21 Grams/i slips back in forth in time, creating an intricate emotional web out of the past and the present that slowly draws these three together; the result is remarkably fluid and compelling. The movie overreaches for metaphors towards the end, but that doesn't erase the power of the deeply felt performances. --iBret Fetzer/i

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 47 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...10 Next » Everything Works - An Instant Classic! June 6, 2004 Martin A Hogan (San Francisco, CA. (Hercules)) 28 out of 29 found this review helpful Not many films can take a gritty subject, tell it in a series of harsh flashbacks, film it with a bleak landscape and make it work. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu accomplishes this great task with the help of immensely talented actors like Naomi Watts, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro. Del Toro is frightening as the hard edged born-again Christian who accidentally commits the worst of crimes. Watts is heartbreaking as the victim who buries her sorrows in drugs and alcohol. Penn excels in subtly as the man who receives Watts deceased husbands heart and falls in love with her. It's almost too much emotion to take in at once. All three actors are at their peak and Inarritu plays them off eachother without pretense or falsehood. Each character is decisively different yet all have one horrible thing in common. Inarritu tells this tale in an original, highly edited manner with flashbacks and foreshadowing that never confuses. The film is actually amazingly interesting in its ability to keep scenes tight and emotions as raw as possible. It is a rare achievement and this film would have received more accolades if the material were simply more upbeat. That's a tragedy in itself. Outstanding April 16, 2006 David Welsh (Oslo, Norway) 19 out of 20 found this review helpful Based on a strikingly similar premise to Iñárritu's first film "Amores Perros", 21 Grams follows three characters whose lives are bound together by a fatal car crash in which a man and his two young daughters are killed. The three characters the film focuses on are the wife and mother of those killed (Naomi Watts), the ex-convict and born-again Christian who caused the accident (Benicio del Toro) and the man whose life was saved when he received a transplant of the heart of the man who was killed (Sean Penn). The first of this film's main virtues are precisely these actors, all of whom are amongst the most gifted and brilliant actors currently working in Hollywood - 21 Grams is a masterclass in acting. The second of its main virtues is that it is also a masterclass in direction. The story is not told chronologically, but follows what Iñárritu describes as the "emotional logic" of the story. We cut between the three main characters and jump back and forth in time, gradually piecing together both what has happened and how the three, initially totally separate-seeming, strands of the plot are connected. This technique, though bold, is not all that unusual in itself, but what is unusual is the way that Iñárritu makes it work so brilliantly - he keeps you guessing and involved, but never confuses you. This is a genuinely outstanding film. Fabulous film December 18, 2005 anonymous (London) 8 out of 8 found this review helpful This is an intelligent and thoughtful film - which was a bit confusing at first, as it jumps between was has happened and what#x27;s about to. Raises interesting thoughts about life and death - which sounds really heavy, but it#x27;s not. Great acting from all involved too - get this film, it#x27;s great! Broken Heartbeats June 29, 2004 12 out of 14 found this review helpful Amores Perros, the debut feature by Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, brought him international arthouse acclaim and surfed the crest of a wave of interest in the new Mexican and South American cinema. After months of hype and interviews his follow up, 21 Grams, will bring his distinctive style and world-view to an even wider audience. This is his first English language feature and, with the draw of heavyweight Hollywood players Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro, and the ascendant star of Naomi Watts, it will surely show him to be one of the most accessible serious filmmakers today. Paul (Sean Penn) is a maths professor in need of a heart transplant and is the film's pivotal player. After receiving a new heart in the nick of time he becomes obsessed over the fate of the donor and tracks down the grieving Christina (Watts). As the bond grows between them, they decide to track down Michael (Benicio Del Toro), the ex-con whose born-again Christian faith leads him to turn himself in after he kills Cristina's husband and children in a hit-and-run incident. pMuch has been made of the narrative structure, a fragmented, non-linear retelling of the above events and their consequences. Certainly it pushes the technique further than most, and it is the film's major coup-de-grâce, involving the viewer in its characters' tragedy while eschewing filmic conventions of stitching together of time and space. Some of the editing is truly breathtaking; scenes cut associatively rather than linearly, along emotional or visual lines, the camera following the flow of characters' movements, or even objects, backwards and forwards in the narrative from one glass to a different one, from one set of cutlery to another. As such it betrays an intelligence shaping the film that is more concentrated on the most minute details than the major action - mirroring Del Toro's sentiment expressed twice in the film to radically different effect: "God even knows when a single hair moves on your head." The director, as God, here, moves in mysterious ways and in doings so reveals an allegiance to a higher order, though this detachment from the heartbreak on display sometimes runs the risk of emotionally alienating the spectator.pLike Amores Perros the film spins around the vortex of a fatal event, a car crash, that traumatically binds all the main protagonists together. But whereas in Amores Perros, the crash was visceral and literally bone-shattering, in 21 Grams it is never shown to the spectator, circled in on from different angles yet remaining in the off-screen space of the unrepresentable tragedy, more black hole than blinding light. Initially disorientating, it never becomes incoherent, and with even a rudimentary idea of the plot (as recounted in all the publicity and numerous reviews, the present included), there are no problems with comprehension; structurally reminiscent of other films such as Michael Haneke's Code Inconnu and, less precisely, Pulp Fiction, it is perhaps an example of how mainstream cinema can now incorporate sophisticated formal and stylistic experimentation. pThe director draws excellent performances from all three leads, as well as from a supporting cast that includes Charlotte Gainsbourg and Melissa Leo, but it is Del Toro who is the most devastating, as the tortured believer who cannot accept his position in a drama that grapples existentially with faith, destiny and love. The film lacks the emotional rhythm and range of Amores Perros, and sustains an intensity of feeling that at times seems overwrought and heavy-handed, but in the closing scenes, with Sean Penn's final act, it acquires a poignancy and compassion that is ultimately redemptive and, despite its gloomy outlook, displays an optimism about humanity and the power of love that was lacking in its predecessor. Shot in Iñárritu's trademark bleached and grainy style (with his regulars, Director of Photography Rodrigo Prieto and Production Designer Brigitte Broch), and with an atmospheric soundtrack, 21 Grams resembles nothing else you will see this year, either aesthetically or in terms of raw impact. "How much does 21 grams weigh?" December 12, 2004 M. Wenzl 14 out of 17 found this review helpful Bound together by one incident, three totally different people; Paul (Sean Penn), Cristina (Naomi Watts) and Jack (Benico Del Toro). Paul is a man who is slowly dying from heart failure; Cristina is a wife and mother of two; Jack is a religious ex-convict with a long criminal record. Incidentally, they are bound together by a car accident.The film is split into the past and present, telling the story from the start, but interspersing it with sequences which are to come. pDirected by Mexican Alejandro González Iñárritu, 21 Grams deals with the raw emotion of a person. It is a very human film, portraying passion and emotion at its most real with some superb acting and extreme camera close ups. As a film, it is immensely hard hitting and as the film approaches its final climax, everything, all the sequences that are shown earlier are tied together and it all makes sense. Unlike many films, 21 Grams shows killing to be heavy, a weight on the conscience. You will find that at the end of the film you will have a strange feeling of enlightenment. 21 Grams is a film that you should only really watch on your own to appreciate the power and emotion of it. The simple music and the way it is filmed with hand held cameras makes it so melancholic and powerful against dusty Mexican-type countrysides, suburban towns, congested motorways, intense clubs, dank, grim prisons, cheap motels and hospitals drenched in the irony of life. pOne of the fascinating parts of the film is the title; 21 Grams. It is said, that when you die, you lose 21 grams of body weight which is believed to be the weight of ones soul. p21 Grams is easily one of, if not the best film of 2004. If you appreciate meangingful and powerful films, I highly recommend it. The story is superbly crafted and brought together with gripping, solemn imagery. This is one of the films you have to see before you die. Showing reviews 1-5 of 47 1 2 3 4 5 6 ...10 Next »

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