21 grams
I remember very clearly how difficult I found it to write about Amores Perros, and I also had my problems writing about Babel. 21 Gram is about exactly in the middle of them, considering everything: It’s easier to write about than Amores Perros and more difficult than Babel, it’s less love-story related than Amores Perros but more than Babel, it’s less indie than Amores Perros (with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts) but much more than Babel, it tries to be more meaningful than Amores Perros but much less than Babel. After seeing Amores Perros and Babel, it seems like I can’t help but seeing it as the interpolation of these two films.
I will be trying not to do that though: All in all, I think Inarritu’s typical non-linear storytelling works great here, much better than in both of his other films. I also feel more for the characters here than both of the other films. Naomi Watts was beautiful in the scene where she knew about her family’s death – in fact, it was more powerful than anything in the other two Inarritu films.
Another surprise to me was that 21 Grams is rather pleasant to watch. I didn’t find the storyline difficult to follow, because you can guess rather well what is going on. Maybe I am trained by watching Baccano or something, haha, but I really found the story rather simple. At the same time, I don’t felt so forced watching it as it was the case for Amores Perros, and I didn’t feel crushed by clichés about japanese society.
For some reason the most memorable thing of this film will most probably be my annoyance of Mary. I have no idea why, but I found everything about her incredibly unpleasant. On the one hand, I do feel sorry for her, but on the other hand, I feel like everything she does is wrong. Both her and her husband are horribly selfish, ignorant and whatnot. Or maybe I just disliked her way of talking?
In the same way, I’m not a big fan of the love story between the protagonists, just licking each other’s wounds.
Finally, I’m sorry that I could not stop thinking of Inarritu’s other films while watching this one. It’s possible that it kept me up from truly getting into the film, but I actually liked it a lot despite my inability of thinking of “Amores Perros” and “Babel”. Well, I have had that disease before it seems.