| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Drama |
I very much enjoyed watching this one; particularly the second time I saw it. During the initial viewing stages I found it somewhat tricky to follow, more so even than some other movies that are made in similar unconventional trait of styles. The scenes are moving forward and backward on multiple planes, and all of these events take place within a relatively short time period interchanging eachother in a chaotic way. Therefore, the physical appearances of the characters never change drastically. Also, the filmmakers chose not to use the most common method of time displacement, color vs. black & white to represent the 'now' and 'before' like in Memento.
After the first twenty minutes or so I was beginning to become discouraged and almost convinced myself that there was no need to continue watching. I remember thinking this is one of the more artsy-artsy film to fulfil the director's ego. Suddenly things began to rapidly fall in place, and before the midway point of the movie I was able to comfortably follow along as the drama unfolded. At this same point I found myself in unfamiliar territory. I was almost anxious for the movie to reach the climax so I could go back to the beginning and associate the earlier scenes with what I was currently watching. I attribute this effect to one of two things, either pure genius on the part of the cast and crew, or the most significant cinematic happy accident of my movie watching life.
Oscar nominations for Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro were fully justified. I am a big fan of Naomi who i think do splendidly in every other role she had. I also believe Sean Penn's performance was worthy of a nomination. With his eventual win for the leading role in Mystic River. If you were a fan of "Memento" or "Irreversible" you'll most certainly appreciate the making of "21 Grams". The Story is powerful and touching even if it was told in a somewhat unusual way.
