21 Grams [Collector's Edition]

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu Alejandro González Iñárritu

Overview

Mexican filmmaker Alejandro Gonz?lez I??rritu makes his first English-language feature with the downbeat drama 21 Grams. Set in an unnamed U.S. urban center, the film uses a nonlinear structure to piece together the intertwined lives of three very different people. Paul (Sean Penn) is a math teacher with a heart problem and a troubled marriage to British wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Christine (Naomi Watts) is a former drug addict who lives with her husband, Michael (Danny Huston), and her daughters. Jack (Benicio del Toro) is a born-again Christian with a wife (Melissa Leo) who has stood by him since his days as a criminal. Following a tragic accident, the three main characters are thrown into each other's lives. 21 Grams was shown in competition at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/03/2006
UPC:	0025193013620
Original Release:	2003
Rating:	R
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	2:05:00
Sales rank:	51,962

Special Features

Closed Caption; 21 Grams: In Fragments - an insightful look at the making of the film

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sean Penn	Paul Rivers
Naomi Watts	Cristina Peck
Benicio Del Toro	Jack Jordan
Charlotte Gainsbourg	Mary Rivers
Melissa Leo	Marianne Jordan
Clea DuVall	Claudia Williams
Danny Huston	Michael
Carly Nahon	Katie
Claire Pakis	Laura
Nick Nichols	Boy
John Rubinstein	Ginekolog
Eddie Marsan	Wielebny John
Loyd Keith Salter	Gruby m¿¿czyzna
Antef A. Harris	Gracz koszykówki
Teresa Delgado	Gina
Terry Dee Draper	Stra¿nik
Tony Guyton	Actor
Wayne E. Beech Jr.	Actor
Keith Lamont Johnson	Actor
David Chattam Jr.	Actor
John Boyd West	Actor
Jeff Schmidt	Actor
Tony Vaughn	Actor
Paul Calderon	Actor
Denis O'Hare	Actor
Anastasia Herin	Actor
Carlo Alban	Actor
Hai Quang Tran	Actor
Annie Corley	Actor
Sharon Bishop	Actor
Jerry Chipman	Actor
Tom Irwin	Actor
Roberto Medina	Actor
Arita Trahan	Actor
Rodney Ingle	Actor
Catherine Dent	Actor
Kevin H. Chapman	Actor
Randall Hartzog	Actor
Verda Davenport-Booher	Actor
Dorothy Armstrong-Miles	Actor
Barclay Roberts	Actor
Lisa Sanchez	Actor
Stephen Bridgewater	Actor
Michael Finnell	Actor
Juan Corrigan	Actor
Charlie B. Brown	Actor
Arron Shiver	Actor
Pamela Blair	Actor
Jennifer Pfalzgraff	Actor
Lew Temple	Actor
Marc Musso	Freddy
Tricia Branch	Actor

Technical Credits

Guillermo Arriaga

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu	Producer
Ted Hope	Executive Producer
Francine Maisler	Casting
Spiro Razatos	Stunts
Robert Salerno	Producer
Kathleen Tonkin	Special Effects
Guillermo Arriaga	Screenwriter
Alejandro González Iñárritu	Director

Editorial Reviews

Extraordinarily fine acting and a gripping if disjunctive story distinguish this emotionally wrenching film from Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, whose Amores Perros (2000) heralded the arrival of an exciting new talent. Like the earlier movie, 21 Grams revolves around three disparate people and a tragic car accident that alters their lives forever. Sean Penn stars as a mathematician who, dying of a heart condition, desperately needs a transplant; Naomi Watts plays a married mother struggling with drug addiction; and Benicio del Toro essays the role of a former convict who relies on his newfound religious fundamentalism to keep him on the straight-and-narrow. Telling how their lives intersect would be giving away too much plot, but we can reveal that they come together in a profoundly sad way. Iñárritu uses fractured chronology to give us disjointed bits and pieces of the tale, a jigsaw-puzzle technique that pays off in the end but requires attentive viewing. He darts back and forth in time, revealing key moments in the lives of his principal characters but making us wait till story's end to learn how and why they add up. 21 Grams is full of human suffering and anguish, and like Iñárritu's breakout film, it seems morbidly preoccupied with death and fate -- but at the bottom it's about the innate ability of people to find a glimmer of hope in even the most hopeless situations. And the acting is commendable -- Penn and del Toro are great as usual, but Oscar-nominated Watts is a revelation. 21 Grams has something important to say about the human condition, and Iñárrita says it with the consummate style and sensitivity of a true art