I saw "21 grams" for the first time last night.

[Shell Beau]

It was interesting. It certainly didn't have a happy ending, that is for sure.

[Shell Beau]

1. Somebody could reply if they wanted to!!

[pitohui]

2. i saw it

thought it was without merit, sorry

[Shell Beau]

8. Really?

[terrya]

3. You don't want to see that film if you're suicidal.

"21 Grams" is one of the most relentlessly depressing movies ever made.

[Shell Beau]

5. It was so sad when she found out about her hubby and kids.

:cry:

[youspeakmylanguage]

7. I would nominate "Requiem For A Dream" for that distinction... (n/t)

EDIT: Changed my mind.

[terrya]

10. "Requiem for a Dream" comes close...

I agree. But the theme of the film, the fact that none of the characters have virtually no redeeming qualities..."21 Grams" is pretty much on top.

[AuntieM1957]

34. I thought that the theme of Requiem

was that addiction sucks.

It's an illness, not a character defect.

[I Know How To Do it]

14. My choices would be, "Requiem for a Dream", "My Life as a Dog"

"The Mission"
"The Sweet Hereafter"
"The Last Emperor"
"Dancer In the Dark"

[youspeakmylanguage]

4. You should see "Amores Perros"...

It was Alejandro González Iñárritu's first movie and, if you can believe it, it was even more depressing.

[Shell Beau]

6. I don't know if I could stand that!

[ghostsofgiants]

15. Great movie

I actually gave a friend of mine my dvd and made her watch it yesterday actually.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

20. it is a great movie.

nt

[pretzel4gore]

9. excellent movie

not really a good fit in georgebushamerica though...too complicated for flat earth society, i thinks

[Shell Beau]

12. I loved

the way he demonstrated how these people came together.

[Jim__]

11. It's been a while snce I saw that - but, I thought the ending was

ambiguous. It could be hopeful.

[Shell Beau]

13. With her pregnancy?

[Jim__]

19. Yes - with her pregnancy

If I remember, she is sitting on the bed smiling. If she can smile at the prospectof another child, after all that's happened - then, there is definitely hope.

What I can't remmeber is what else is visible in the room in the last scene. Is this necessarily after all that's happened? Or, could this be showing us a scene fromher first pregnancy?

I need to watch it again.

[BlueIris]

16. I really despise "21 grams." One of the most offensive films ever.

Also one of the most badly done. With some of the worst performances any actors have ever turned in ANYWHERE, including that of my beloved Sean Penn, who I believe started phoning his in after he realized how much the movie sucked. Okay, wait, Benicio del Torro and his plot were great--so, of course, his work was marginalized by the two white actors and their more conventional story in the film--but everyone else made me embarrassed for them. My main problem was the nasty, anti-choice misogyny in Naomi Watt's story, although I can actually see how especially people calling themselves "pro-life" would view the nihilist ending to "grams" as insulting to their values as well. But also, the structure is just bad. Badly organized, and even more badly constructed. If you're going to attempt to use a modular format--AT LEAST KNOW HOW. There's this movie, called "The English Patient," that basically closed the book on that form. This other little flick, "Momento," uses the non-linear approach almost as masterfully, and most importantly, purposefully. The hacks who made "grams" didn't come close to understanding why films should and shouldn't be made with their timelines out of sequence, so they fucked up their movie, which bit.

Did I mention I really despise this one? It's been a year, I still want my money back.

[pitohui]

17. tell us what you really think

agree, badly constructed

i thought it was just boring and they cut it up to try to make it interesting when they realized what a corny plot they had on their hands

corny is still corny no matter how you slice and dice the film

[BlueIris]

22. The fact that it WAS corny (although I use the term "contrived")

is another reason I found that piece of shit so offensive. To take on--ineffectually--such serious, emotionally divisive subjects and then do it badly? That's just wrong. Why not make a bad movie about the suffering of concentration camp survivors, too? Oh, wait, "Jakob the Liar." Which offended so many critics it received basically no press. People used to care when movies were offensive. Back when the country was sane.

[Shell Beau]

23. I didn't find the movie at all offensive.

What was offensive about it?

[AuntieM1957]

35. didn't offend me either

in fact, I recall being more than a little moved by it.

it's been awhile, but I thought Penn was wonderful, as usual.

And Watts surprised me, since the only thing I'd ever seen her in before that was The Ring - which I thought truly sucked.

[Shell Beau]

43. Yes, Penn is usually wonderful in his roles.

He is such a talented actor. I also find him sexy for some reason.

[AuntieM1957]

48. it's because smart men are sexy

[ForrestGump]

41. I'm with you...

Hated the nonlinear aspect, because it was badly done and just a confusing gimmick, NOT an aspect of the film that added to it. Pretentious junk that could have been decent if they'd edited it more traditionally (or, alternately, edited it at all). I think they just threw the raw footage up in the air, let it fall to the ground, and spliced it all together in random order...

[Shell Beau]

18. Did we see the same movie?

I thought Naomi Watts was fabulous. I have seen Sean Penn do better, but I still thought he was great. Same for Benecio.

[BlueIris]

29. Watts in particular was HORRIBLE.

Her performance was SO flat. Flat isn't even the word. It was like she was trying to fake caring about portraying the character--and even doing a bad job with the faking. What they SHOULD have done, was make the character the kind of person who has no emotional depth what so ever, which is what I thought they were going to do in the first fifteen minutes of the film because Watts was so depthless. But then, no, that turned out to be her performance.

[kwassa]

31. Naomi Watts and Benecio were nominated for acting Oscars for this

I thought the movie was excellent throughout

[BlueIris]

39. Yes, I know that. Because I don't live in a cave.

Benecio didn't win his Oscar now did he? Tokenism sucks, especially when the actor's performance was excellent. Which my post (that I doubt you read) mentions.

Naomi turned in a terrible, emotionless performance absurdly praised for its emotionality.

The Academy has been known to make some questionable calls in its past, as you may (or may not) be aware. Many talentless "actors" have been given nominations and actual awards. An Oscar nom, especially these days, is proof of nothing.

I really have no clue how what she did in that movie resonates with anyone.

[kwassa]

46. I thought Naomi was not only excellent, it caused me to really notice

her for the first time as an actress. It caused me to do a web search to look up other movies that I saw her in.

At the time I saw it, I had no idea that either were nominated for Academy Awards.

There is no accounting for differing tastes in movies, I suppose. I don't put much weight in the Academy Awards, but it does indicate that many were impressed by these acting performances.

I also don't work up such passionate hatred about any movie. Movies aren't worth that energy, since by definition most are terrible. I think there are fewer than 10 in a given year that are really worth seeing, but this was one of them.

[Shell Beau]

47. I agree with you. I don't

see the point in having such hatred for any particular movie. But, I can see how some people would not like this movie. I think it is a good movie, though. And I also agree that Naomi Watts was great, as well.

[pitohui]

51. i think it's great

if people can have such passion to be angry about a movie, it shows that art is still alive and still important to us

i'll watch watts in anything but give me mulholland drive

[Shell Beau]

42. Well, you certainly have

the right to your opinion. It seems you feel extremely passionate about it as well. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

[henslee]

38. You are dead on. Thank you.

[BlueIris]

40. Thanks! I know we're not the only ones who see this.

God, it sucks.

[rbnyc]

21. so depressing

and I have to say, the smoking REALLY bothered me.

[Shell Beau]

24. Oh, me too!

How on earth could someone smoke like that while on oxygen?

[rbnyc]

25. and so disrespectful... (slight spoiler)

...of the organ donor!

[Shell Beau]

26. Yeah, and he already felt so guilty for having

her hubby's heart.

[LeftyDarthBrodie]

27. Whenever there is a thread about depressing movies

and movies are listed, I like those movie quite a bit. Does that say something about me? I think so.

"Love Liza" is another very depressing movie which I haven't seen mentioned here.

[Greyhound]

28. I've been sucked into so many sean penn was really good in this one

movies, I won't get fooled again.

[Shell Beau]

44. Are you not a fan?

[SeanQuinn]

30. I've not seen it, but it looks good.

Not in that happy ending way, but still like a good flick.

[AuntieM1957]

33. I thought it was painful to watch - but very moving

[Yavin4]

32. My Most Depressing Movie Was "Phantom Menance"

That movie sucked so bad, I was depressed for a year.

[Carni]

36. I thought American Beauty was the most depressing I have seen

But I haven't seen 21 grams.
I also know people who didn't find AB depressing because they thought the Kevin Spacey charachter was a perv but I personally found it horribly depressing.

[alarimer]

37. That movie made no sense

Jumping all over the place in time. I still have no idea what happened.

[Shell Beau]

45. Yeah, you have to

kind of find your way around it, but that is what I liked about it.

[alarimer]

50. I probably need to watch it again

But I don't like to work that hard for a movie.

[Beware the Beast Man]

49. Honestly, I was disappointed.

It just didn't live up to the hype for me.