Hey folks, Harry here... Alejandro González Iñárritu is one of the most exciting talents to come along in quite some time. When my brother-in-law first brought up the title of his first film, AMORES PERROS, he had this spark in his eyes. The folks he knew in Mexico and through Latin-AICN were quasi-religious in their praise of the film, and when I finally got to see it... So was I. Iñárritu reminds me of the early work of Friedkin and Oliver Stone... that sort of rawness and verve. For folks that love that sort of unflinching and unblinkingly frank stare at our world, that we haven't seen since the Seventies and rarely in the early Eighties... Filmmakers like Alejandro and Joe Carnahan are a rare treat. There is no release date yet for 21 GRAMS from Universal Focus, though I hear it opens in Russia in March... My bet is if it gets finished in time, we'll see it play at Toronto, and if it does... that means 21 GRAMS and KILL BILL... I might very well head up there if that happens. Here ya go...
Yo Harry,
My first time writing to y'all. Call me Buttermaker.
I just took in a screening of 21 Grams by Alejandro González Iñárritu, of Amorres Perros fame. It stars Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benicio Del Toro, with a small role for Clea Duvall. The rest of the cast is "unknowns". All are terrific. I imagine the acting will be a big draw come release time. It does not disappoint.
I won't get into the story too much. "21 Grams" alludes to the supposed amount of weight lost by every human body at the time of death. Is it the soul departing? The movie does not address (or answer) this question. But the major themes are death, dying, loss, love, redemption, religion, etc... Not exactly comedy material. As my friend remarked, it nearly makes Schindler's List seem lighthearted. A grim, dark, depressing tale. It's a very trying couple of hours --for both the characters and viewers. But definitely worth the effort required.
The current cut is approximately 2 hours long. It was shown on a digital projector with all of the usual caveats: color not balanced, not final score, etc... Looked good to me. Very gritty, with lots of hand-held shots. The editing was very interesting. The story went back in forth through time, jumping between the interweaving stories of the three main characters. In fact, I'm not sure that there were even two consecutive chronological scenes. Sounds confusing but it works really well. Brilliant editing job. It actually serves to draw the viewer into the story, looking for clues as to why, when, and how these three characters lives become entangled. The music was fitting too. Sparse, minimalist, with solo organ and guitar. A nice contrast to the overblown Oingo Boingo shit in the Hulk. But I'm not going to go there.
Overall an impressive and uncompromising second film. Let's hope the studio doesn't screw it up before release.
-Buttermaker
