Show 'Garru Tliat rJoSo&f jOnjideojndJVD ra toz®r: f as the poet said no doubt II the after glancing through movie listings: Between the Academy Awards and Memorial Day weekend stretches a celluloid waste land where studios dump movies deemed too weak to compete with die summer’s blockbusters or the autumn’s Oscar conteoders Aside from die occasional flowering of controversy or experimental- ism — diis year “The Passion of the Christ” and “Eternal It : : Mind”— the pickings are depressingly slim Hope springs eternal as that other poet said but surely not after glancing through this week’s movie listings : Hobson’s choice never looked so appealing “Hellboy” and “Jersey Girl” were clearly meant for each other but not forme — to say nothing of the other new releases which is just what I propose to do Instead let me weigh in on “21 Grams” one of several films from lastyear that did not play in Cache Ydley but are just now appearing on home video Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inanitn screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga and cine-- r matpgrepher Rodrigo Prieto — the team behind “Amores Petros” (2000)— have reunit- ed for another film that explores die cofiisioaof three fives in the aftermath of a fetal ‘ long-suf-wi- nbu&esuamtoxriuaanb thing that matters most to u : : u V - 5 the worst of Ks genre Its Adtegmceto genre Brian McCuskey is an associate professor of Engfah at Utah State University where he teaches courses on film and Werature He is among a number of freelance writers whose columns appear in The Herald Journal as part of an effort to expose read- ere to a variety of community voices He is not an employee of the newspaper Feedback at L1m It J npiKJvmvnotrnaixoin Alamo ICO Prince Ladyldlarsn msm-aauu- erew rWA ca ifcOO 7A0 7B Mtms starting at V-- - 795 — incUiUs :Vwi rtsovati— - 563-- 9 Wwltuvg 179 i Ladykflarsn 130700 On The Range rat ' 7M 9M Whole fen Yards the ' tisane ttuzn ' ro-i- s 20 re-i- s 45' 125 05 ' CINEMA&3 40WM loo North 10 ' Eb Enchanaed m io ' LOGAN JART1CINEMA! --- 10 135 7:10 2CO Op— PaUy 9t4S Saturday 1USy Main Biind Sm Mol 1300 Nor W0$ WJiigUnMs 110 7:10 HM 15 CACHE lVALLEYl3i ioo ya WianbhJdixV WWBHMWmUM JuUMIIL vkiim 205 4J0 705 HklalgoWis 1:1075)0 Jersey Giri— ui : jea ' P0-1- ro-r-a V-- " 40 1:55 125 7:T5 30 70S WI5 Ii40 UO SM 705 mu at me m - 9:23 r hL bug Lncnanveaj —i - Bitaidsdslts KwypiiH aoeept 9U V v-- ' Whole lan Yards Home r 00 ' - 1:30 115 AMerar 1J0 A20 IJ0 40 200 140 700 f00 7C0 9M ee-i- a ICO 705 Home On The Range Alamoro-: ro-i- s 1:30 115 535 W 100 Improvidence 115 70S 2297 N Main ' v Among film it is difficult to watch the pain in the faces of Watts Del Toro and Penn — or to hear it in their voices — as they take their characters to the limits of emotional endurance The title of die film refers to die mass that the body loses at the moment of death — in other words the weight of die soul Easy enough to calculate as any mathematician knows but so hard to cany as this one learns': “21 Grams” is rated R for language sexuality some violence and drug use Running time 123 mi—it— fe Vsalad MMSW :’s Afina but forgettable example rVitvof Is genre attaes&tattteastttlsisiiumiK-- ’ Pp&ovtt'ribrijMi " ' Scan Penn plays Paul? Rivers a professor of mathe- - ' matics dying of a heart condition and waiting for a trans- plant with overwhelming 0 odds against him Paul’s feith in the explanatory power of numbers has led nun to give uphope of survival ffiswjfe (Charlbtte GainsbouigX 'if ' iff A classic of Its genre Better than most of Its genre ex-co- ed i tv with finding out whose heart hu saved him his wish to ' make some recompense even- much tually causes nearly pain and suffering as die accident itself— pain and suffer-ing for whichPaul must final- third life belong to ly atone With its shocking twists and Jack Jordan played by turns of plot “21 Grans” ReniaoDelToroabon: walks a very fine line between n seems also who again to have beaten the odds tragedy and melodrama it against him driving a truck he takes die casting of three claims that Jesus gave him gifted and subtle actors to keep die emotional- -' Jack devotes himself to his ism of the story just barely church and his family — in under control Director V that order Still his Inarritu hu also smartly cho- (Melissa Leo) him both lovingly and soi to play games with the editing of hu film presenting warify the massive brooding scenes — and often just pieces Del Toro ratars always on “V oif scenes— out of chronologV1°l“Ce’ even ical sequence camouflaging a with his children and espefew improbabilities The techcially when defending hu relinique also mirrors the free- -' gious values tured souls of die three main “There are so many dungs characters feat have to happen for two they struggle to the pieces of :l back Paul to to put together people meetsays (heir broken lives Cristina ‘That’s what mathe-“21 Grams” does move matics are” For these three catharsis in the end toward mieet ' it v to takes only people but even so this is a harrowing one thing: a traffic accident that gives Paul a dead man’s heart while stripping both i Cristina andI Jack :evey-- : y— Brian McCuskey 'vi!'' daughters have pulled her out of a spiral of She seems to have beaten the odds against her but the brilliant Watts allows the specter of addiction to haunt her sad slightly stunned eyes even when Cristina is healthiest snd i Oscar-nominat- J looks to the future — she '' wants to conceive a child through artificial insemination before her husband dies — but Paul stubbornly resists In last year’s “Mystic River” for which he received the Best Actor Oscar Penn played a man consumed by grief and rage here in a less showy but equally skilled and powerful performance he plays a man wasting away until he feels and cares for nothing at alL Naomi Watts nominated for Best Actress pbtys Cristina Peck a recovering drug addict prfib the cruelerf month Films are rated from 0 to 4 stars ranksri against othsr films of the tame genre Thai Is the fountar drama 'Citizen Kane’ Is dearly a more Important film thanToy Story' but Toy Story leaf dim's film nonetheless 795 North Main Paision Of The Christ : Girl gq iSr' Nwt De— 19 m Stanley A Hutch 7i00M0VIiSUKA30 : 'v —w ScoabyDoo'— No Passes or discount Tickets Gift books available at Movies 5 & Stadium 8 Buy tickefs Online T ’’j ' i ' f ' ' ' s : 1 v I J I ' - ‘ ' I f f ' ’ at wwwmovieswetfcom H ' - I’ r ’i’ ' i ' i |