21 Grams

2003 Drama | Suspense/Thriller
74%

College professor Paul Rivers and his wife Mary find their union precariously balanced between life and death. He is mortally ill and awaiting a heart transplant, while she hopes to become pregnant with his child through artificial insemination. Cristina Peck, having matured since her reckless past, is a beloved older sister to Claudia, a good wife to Michael and loving mother to two little girls. Her family radiates hope and joy. Much farther down the socioeconomic scale, ex-con Jack Jordan and his wife Marianne struggle to provide for their two children while Jack reaffirms his commitment to religion. A tragic accident that claims several lives places these couples in each other's orbit. In the aftermath, Paul confronts his own mortality, Cristina takes action to come to terms with her present and perhaps her future, and Jack's faith is put to the test. If spiritual equilibrium is to be regained by any one of them, it could come at great cost to the others. Yet the will to live, and the instinct to reach out to another person for support, remains ever present among them all.

Our Review

by entertainment
Star Rating:

21 Grams

A couple of years ago, Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu made an excellent film about destiny called Amores Perros, which interlinked three stories around an accident. He repeats that trick with his English language debut, the superb 21 Grams, a film skewered in its narrative, but one that pushes its cast towards some of their most brilliant work. In this gripping but unusually structured film, Penn plays a mathematician who is slowly dying from heart disease and desperately requires a transplant.

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