21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life

7/16/2013

21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life

♥♥♥♥♥

One of the simple, grimy posters for Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's 21 Grams

Heavy with the weight of tough human fates, 21 Grams revolves around a hoodlum father who runs down another father and his two daughters in a traffic accident and subsequently escapes. Hereafter follows the mother's unraveling, a heart transplantation, the urge for revenge, - and meaning in the midst of tragedy.

21 Grams is written by Guillermo Arriaga (Love Is a Bitch/Amores Perros (2000)) and directed by Mexican master filmmaker Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu (Babel (2006)), whose second feature it it. The plot of the film is told in an advanced concept that jumps in chronology and between characters, (termed by some as 'hyperlink cinema'.) Arriaga masterly coalesces the stories, and the heavy duty drama holds amazing acting performances from Oscar-nominated leads Naomi Watts (The Impossible/Lo Imposible (2012)), Sean Penn (Milk (2008)) and Oscar-nominated Benicio Del Toro (The Usual Suspects (1995)).
The score by Gustavo Santaolalla (Wild Tales (2014)) is fittingly simple, and the images of burning, intense beauty by master cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto (Lust, Caution (2007)) tell the thought-provoking story of the weight of life in a deeply moving way.

Related posts:

Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu: The day after the day after ... the Oscars 2016
The Revenant (2015) - Nature outdoes itself in Iñárritu's showy, solemn macho-spectacle
The day after the day after... The Oscars 2015
Birdman (2014) - Iñárritu's clever, but cold showbusiness dramedy
Biutiful (2010) - Sad globalization stories from Iñárritu Babel (2006) or, Everyone's Connnected
Love Is a Bitch/Amores Perros (2000) or, People = Bad, Dogs = Good

Watts talks of her work in the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 60.4 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.02 times the cost)
[21 Grams premiered 5 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 124 minutes. It is the second film in Iñárritu's Death trilogy, preceded by Love Is a Bitch and followed by Babel. The title refers to the investigation of Dr. Duncan MacDougall, who found that the weight of a human's soul is 21 grams. Filming took place in Tennessee and New Mexico from December 2002 - February 2003. The film opened #22 in just 8 theaters with 274k $ and a solid 34k $ theater average in North America, where it peaked #14 and in 411 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 16.2 mil. $ (26.8 % of the total gross). Its 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 6 mil. $ (9.9 %) and Italy with 5.5 mil. $ (9.1 %). 21 Grams received two Oscar-nominations: Best Lead Actress (Watts), lost to Charlize Theron for Monster, and Best Supporting Actor (Toro), lost to Tim Robbins for Mystic River. The film also received 4 BAFTA nominations and a slew of other honors. Iñárritu returned with Babel (2006). Penn returned in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004), Del Toro in Sin City (2005), Watts in We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004). 21 Grams is certified fresh at 80 % with a 7.5 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of 21 Grams and the other two films in the Death trilogy?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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7/16/2013

21 Grams (2003) or, Hardcore Life

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