Weighted down

I went to see 21 Grams last night. It wasn't quite as hard work as Memento but you have to concentrate to hold all the stories together and assemble the chronology of the narrative. I can't decide if Sean Penn is devastatingly handsome or as ugly as Feargal Shearkey in his Undertones days (I concede Feargal probably had some dentistry since then but I preferred him in his Teenage Kicks days). Anyway, Sean is a pretty damn impressive actor but Benicio el Toro and Naomi Watts are equally fine. Naomi Watts has a great emotional range as a woman who has overcome some reckless life choices to find peace with her loving family only to have that overturned in an instant. The scene where she is picking clothes scattered around her daughters' bedroom and inhaling their scent from the discarded pyjamas startingly evokes that visceral love a parent has for a child. It's not easy viewing but I found it ultimately quite strong on redemption.