Zeno's Paradox: 21 Grams / The Last Samurai

Zeno's Paradox

December 23, 2003 - 21 Grams / The Last Samurai

After work last night, I headed to the theater to see what was playing. On a whim, I went out and saw 21 Grams with Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, and Benecio Del Toro (Is that a cool name or what?). It's not a film that you go to to feel better about yourself or anything like that. It's probably the darkest, greyest film that I've seen all year. It's also probably the best film that I've seen all year.

The plot centers around three characters. Watts plays a mother whose life is torn asunder when her kids and husband are killed in a hit and run by Del Toro. Penn plays a math professor who has had a recent heart transplant (courtesy of Watts' recently deceased husband) and is obsessed with finding out who saved his life. Del Toro plays a reformed petty criminal who has found Jesus and is desperately holding on to his newfound faith and let that faith rule his life.

The film is shot out of order in a series of short scenes. It's not backwards or in any noticeable order, but the sequencing allows the movie to unfold in its own way and it's quite effective. The beginning of the film starts with Watts and Penn in bed together, then a few scenes later, you see Watts and her daughters making a cake for the father. This technique allows the director to show how much the characters change over the course of the movie. It also serves a dual role of flashbacks and foreshadowing as you see Penn and Watts in a grimy car driving out to kill Del Toro. It's a difficult movie to explain, so I would recommend getting out and seeing it. Don't expect to have high spirits in the end though.

A few days before, I also managed to see The Last Samurai. I didn't have too many hopes for this film, given that it seemed to be a vanity project for Tom Cruise. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I actually watched it. At the heart of the movie is the conflict between Eastern and Western values, technology, and ways of life. Cruise plays a captain in the 7th Calvary who feels guilty for murdering the Native Americans while serving in the Army. He handles this guilt with alcohol. At the beginning of the film, he is picked to train a Western style army in Japan that will be used to put down the rebelling remnants of the Samurai.

Since the plot as described doesn't leave much room for maneuvering, I'm sure that the entire rest of the movie is predictable. While that is its shortcoming, the film does well in the cinematography and choreography departments. What the film lacks in terms of deep story and surprise, it makes up in beautiful camera work and scenes displaying the skill and finesse of the samurai. Basically, if you were a fan of Gladiator, you will like The Last Samurai as it's basically a cross between that movie and the James Clavell novel "Shogun". (Though Shogun happens two hundred years before Samurai.) Personally, I enjoyed it and probably will be picking it up on DVD, but I don't know if it will be everyone's cup of tea.

Posted by br284 at 07:19 AM

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Thanks for the review of 21 g. I hope to see it now!

Posted by Sarah on December 28, 2003 05:42 PM