MOVIE REVIEW Heavy stuff in '21 Grams'

The movie treats its audience like thinking adults.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Although it hits the same note of grim despair one too many times, and has an overly determined quality that lets you know exactly where it's headed 40 minutes in, I had a hard time resisting the dark, powerful allure of "21 Grams," the first English language film by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.
Reuniting with Guillermo Arriaga Jordan and Rodrigo Prieto, the screenwriter and cinematographer of his remarkable 2000 debut, "Amores Perros," Inarritu has once again chosen to tell his story (stories?) in fragments. Unlike "Perros" whose three extended vignettes unfolded concurrently with intermittent overlaps, "Grams" jumps all over the place, scrambling to recount the circumstances that bring its lead characters onto an unstoppable collision course.
As in "Perros," a harrowing car accident is the trigger for much of the action that eventually unfolds.
Inarritu's decision to slowly dole out bits of information -- shades of "Memento," another cinematic jigsaw puzzle -- is initially jarring, even confusing. But once the film's dramatic momentum kicks in, watch out.
Lives intersect
Just as the film's central trio (college math professor Paul, suburban housewife/mom Christina and reformed ex-con Jack) are swept away by a cruel and arbitrary destiny that shockingly and permanently binds them together, we become co-conspirators in their intersected lives.
Paul (Sean Penn, as strong and focused as he was in Clint Eastwood's "Mystic River") has a terminal heart condition that's put him on a transplant list, but neither he nor wife Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is especially optimistic about his chances.
Ex-party girl Christina (Naomi Watts, finally delivering on her "Mulholland Drive" promise) has cleaned up her act to such a degree -- she's now the very embodiment of cozy, yuppie domesticity -- that she can barely remember her previous life.
Jack (Benicio Del Toro, better than he's been since winning the Oscar for "Traffic"), meanwhile, has been born again with a vengeance. With the aid of his parish priest, he's even starting doing volunteer work as a teen counselor at the local youth center. Jack's method of reaching out to troubled kids by physically intimidating them is an unsettling reminder of his violent past.
Fated to meet
It becomes evident early on -- Prieto's artfully grainy images, bleached-out colors, and nervous handheld camerawork practically drip with impending doom -- that Paul, Christina and Jack are somehow fated to meet.
Inarritu and Jordan accomplish the difficult feat of turning the inevitable (what you think is going to happen) into the unexpected (how it's going to occur).
Even when you figure it out, the movie still kicks you in the gut. And unlike "Memento," "21 Grams" actually rewards multiple viewings because it plays fair. All the various story threads, character details and layers of meaning are securely in place; they're just waiting to be unlocked in your subconscious.
There's something invigorating about a film that dares to treat its audience like thinking adults instead of overgrown adolescents. Like "House of Sand and Fog" and "Mystic River," "Grams" refuses to coddle viewers with empty sermons or greeting card sentiments. Let's hope this trend continues well into the new year.
For the record: The title measurement refers to the amount a body supposedly loses at the moment of death. Metaphysicians say it's the weight of one's soul, others say that's bunk. The movie definitely isn't.
XWrite Milan Paurich at milanpaurich@aol.com.