Director Alejandro González Iñárritu and writer Guillermo Arriaga made a “Trilogy of Death”, starting with  Amores Perros and closing with Babel. This film comes in the middle and has the past, the present and the future come together united by a hit and run accident that changes every life.

Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro) is a man of faith who has conquered his demons.

Paul Rivers (Sean Penn) is a math professor with a fatal heart condition and a struggling marriage to Mary (Charlotte Gainsbourg).

Cristina Peck (Naomi Watts) is a recovering drug addict and now a suburban mom who has left her past life behind.

Their lives meet on the night that Jack accidentally kills Cristina’s husband and children while driving home. Her husband’s heart is given to Paul and his life comes back as his marriage ends. He finds out from a detective whose heart is in his chest and begins to follow Cristina. Meanwhile, Jack’s former life of faith has fallen to nothingness. He turns himself into the police and while Cristina refuses to press charges, he finds himself unable to rejoin the human race or his family, instead working as a laborer and pretty much waiting to die.

A handheld shot film with different colors for each character and film techniques for where their lives are at, 21 Grams is an emotional film despite the jarring way that its narrative is delivered. I think about it quite frequently. It was a movie I didn’t like upon my first watch but as I continued going back to it in my mind, I’ve watched it several times and found so much more to like. It rewards further watches.

The Mill Creek Through the Decades: 2000s Collection has some great movies for a great price like Nurse Betty, One Night at McCool’s, Spy Game, The Emperor’s Club, The Shape of Things, Baby Mama, State of Play, The Hitcher and Cry Wolf. You can order it from Deep Discount.