21 Grams

[TracerBullet42]

Ok...I just rented 21 Grams and finished watching it...

What on earth was the point of this movie, besides just being depressing? The random order of the scenes just made things confusing, and who was that drowned dead girl in the middle of the movie? I didn't recognize her, and it was never even discussed. Weird.

I like the way that Robert Wilonsky of the Dallas Observer put it:

"It's less a narrative than a fistful of puzzle pieces thrown at an audience forced to fit them together."

Anybody have any thoughts on this strange film?

 

[Mark]

That's a very funny way to describe a film (the puzzle pieces thing) but I have yet to see it. I keep meaning to, but haven't gotten around to it. Thanks for starting the thread so I can find out more about it. I'll be lurking on this one.

BTW, Are you coming to the next Gameday at Games Plus?

 

[Remus Lupin]

21 Grams is an interesting film. I showed it to my Religion and Film class just two weeks ago. It was well received. It is a puzzle film, but I think that the randomness of it all is very much part of the film's message. From ground level, we can't always see the meaning or signifiance of our actions. It's only when we see the whole that it begins to make sense to us. And even then, there's a deeper mystery underlying it all, and maybe even grace.

 

[TracerBullet42]

BTW, Are you coming to the next Gameday at Games Plus?

I wish I could...but I'll be in California at the time...hopefully I can catch the next one!

 

[Mark]

Thanks, Remus!

I wish I could...but I'll be in California at the time...hopefully I can catch the next one!

I'll hope to catch you at the next one. Have fun in CA!

 

[TracerBullet42]

Oh, pardon me if I BUMPed you...

And here's another little funny take on the movie from someone who felt the same way as I did...(you'll have to pardon their grammar)

"21 grams is a glorified, artsy soap opera with all kinds of intersecting-life-drama schtick. hasn't the husband-dies-and-wife-hooks-up-with-recipient-of-his-transplanted-heart plot been overdone yet? i wish the director focused more on the potentially interesting math & philosophy aspect - what is the weight of guilt? and all that good voiceover material - than the shocking plot twists and big breakdown scenes. the whole "21 grams" idea is just sort of thrown in cursorily as if to add some depth, and then perfunctorily referenced in said summary voiceover. its edited so that it jumps all over the place in time and you pretty much know the ending near the beginning, which means you stop caring how you progress to that ending and you feel trapped in a bad dream that keeps starting up again just when it moves closer to resolution, and you start just wishing a b and c would happen already so that it could be over and everybody could be out of their misery. its nicely shot, and while i'm a fan of the slow, desolate landscape motif, 21 grams way overdoes it , especially given the quicksand pace."

 

[Altalazar]

I liked it, but then I like movies like that - it was interesting to watch it and try to piece together the full sequence of events that made up the film. I don't think it would have been nearly as interesting shown in a linear fashion.

The only thing I didn't like about it was the nonsense about 21 grams. It really served no purpose and it was wrong, to boot. The real measurement is 0.000000000 grams.

 

[Robbert Raets]

Went to see it on a friend's birthday. Big snore (ooh, I'm religious and loose my faith temporarily because I caused an accident). Predictable (ooh, I'm pregnant by the guy who got my husband's heart) and overdone (transplantee seeks donor's family). Sappy (American-style happy end) and intentionally confusing (well, this Robb guy has a point, my fellow movie-makers; let's cut our film up and show scenes in the wrong order, then it'll be less obvious).

 

[TracerBullet42]

Went to see it on a friend's birthday. Big snore (ooh, I'm religious and loose my faith temporarily because I caused an accident). Predictable (ooh, I'm pregnant by the guy who got my husband's heart) and overdone (transplantee seeks donor's family). Sappy (American-style happy end) and intentionally confusing (well, this Robb guy has a point, my fellow movie-makers; let's cut our film up and show scenes in the wrong order, then it'll be less obvious).

Yet this movie receives much praise in most reviews...I don't get it.

 

[Robbert Raets]

Well..... It's 'artsy'. Reviewers dig that. I usually don't. I split my raves between tributes and innovation.