|
Three strangers are brought together by a tragic accident and their destinies are set on a collision course. Paul (Sean Penn) is a married college professor struggling to survive until he can receive a heart transplant; Christina (Naomi Watts) is a happily married mother of two with a checkered past; and Jack (Benicio Del Toro) is a born-again ex-con struggling to find a fresh start with his wife and children.
After the accident, each person is forced to deal with their own guilt and grief. They are drowning in their suffering - someone turns to drugs, someone seeks revenge, someone loses their faith, but only one holds the key to setting them free.
Love, revenge, guilt, loss, and redemption - this has all the elements of a classic movie. It gets a little preachy at times but it's thought-provoking - just what does it take for two strangers to meet and make a difference in each other's lives?
The story is told in non-linear sequence, jumping backward and forward
in time and between characters so it takes a little while to get the chronology
of all the events straight. It's hard to tell if this device enhances the
story or just makes you pay more attention so you'll understand how the
pieces of the puzzle all fit together.
This is not a feel-good kind of movie - everybody suffers intensely before anything good happens and there aren't a lot of light moments to offer relief from their anguish. The stellar performances (especially by Naomi Watts) transcend whatever weaknesses there are in the story.
The film has a grainy look for that gritty, raw, natural "home-movie feel" that has never been one of our favorites. It doesn't add to the story; it just makes the movie look cheap. The only time that's affective is to give a sense of "news footage" reality to specific events.
The title sounds like it would fit better on a drug movie, which this is
not (although there is drug use in it). It actually refers to the amount
of weight every person loses the exact moment they die. They don't mention
this until the last five minutes of the film, but we're not giving anything
away by telling this (it's on the poster).
Home
|
