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Customer Rating:  
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List Price: $17.98
Our Price: $11.96
Your Save: $ 6.02 ( 33% )
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Manufacturer: Varese Sarabande
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Product Description
It's said all humans mysteriously lose 21 grams upon their death, a notion that inspires much hard-boiled philosophizing in Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's structurally ambitious follow-up to Amores Perros. As in that film, several characters’ lives become intertwined via a tragic accident, but here told via a chronologically disjointed structure that's a masterfully wrought puzzle of editing and plot construction. Given that unusual structure, the musical soundtrack by Gustavo Santolalla by necessity carries much of the film's mood and emotional undercurrents in its spare, brooding cues and occasional songs. The composer's primary instruments here are a heavy-vibrato electric guitar (its tone reminiscent of the great Ry Cooder) and an equally altered accordion, set against a ambient wash of electronics and percussion that's so murky as to often seem impenetrable. The Kronos Quartet admirably matches the mood with their closing rendition of the haunting "When Our Wings Are Cut, Can We Still Fly." The hip-hop swing of Ozomati's "Cut Chemist Suite" and R&B of Ann Sexton help anchor it in a more familiar frame of reference, while Benicio del Toro's spooky, spoken-word take on "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (a performance recorded in Memphis' legendary Sun Studios, no less) effectively channels Tom Waits by way of David Lynch. Another fine example of the evocative, genre-free possibilities of modern film music. --Jerry McCulley
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Customer Review(s)
Customer Rating: Summary: 21 Grams, 16 Tracks Comment: This movie is not exactly average. And the same applies to this magnificent soundtrack.
Some of the tracks featured are very flawed. Tracks 4, 7, 9, and 12 aren't really necessary. 4,9, and 12 are songs by other artists that I guess must be in the movie, and 7 is a totally bizarre track of Benicio Del Torro just saying, "Wash your face and hands. Get in the kitchen. I'm hungry," and so forth. I don't know what exactly went on during the production of that, but it kind of sounds like a drunken rant.
The other tracks however, are wonderful. The same theme is played in several, but the music is so atmospheric and charismatic that it doesn't get mundane. The tracks are filled with beautiful, and moody melodies that echo greatly the themes and meaning of the film itself.
A great aspect of the soundtrack is that the tracks are extremely short. The longest (Del Torro's insane hypnotic track) clocks in at six minutes. Most are about 2 minutes. This makes them accessible, short and sweet.
I especially love the second to last track "Can Light Be Found in the Darkness."
Rent the film, buy the soundtrack. Customer Rating: Summary: 3.5 Stars for 21 Grams Comment: Gustavo's score for 21 Grams is haunting, beautiful, and evocative...unfortunately, too little of it appears on this album. Which is not really a fault of Varese Sarabande (this time), but mostly because there doesn't seem to be much more than 20-25 minutes of score in the movie, either. On the plus side, there is more score here than the terrible 15 minute treatment of Gustavo's Brokeback Mountain CD, but not much, and the additional songs are rather useless - Low Rider is a gooder, but completely out of place, Ann Sexton's is boring, the rap song is horrendous, and Shake Rattle and Roll is almost painful to listen to (6 minutes of Benicio Del Toro mutter an Elvis song is a lot to take).
That having said, I should really be focusing more on what's here than what isn't. The score is understated, but beautiful, and captures the mood of the film perfectly. The two final tracks were worth my 11 bucks alone - they're mysterious, moving, and rather wonderful. Because of the impact of the music, one wishes more of it was here than 20-25 minutes (not exactly sure how much score exactly is here), but then, that might just be a creative choice for the film. Customer Rating: Summary: Great for nighttime Comment: Being one the most popular producers in Rock En Espanol, I've kept an eye on Gustavo Santaolalla's solo productions. They are appealing to me partly because of how different they are from the material he produces for others. Among the bands that have worked with him are Cafe Tacuba, Molotov and other acts that are do not precisely play "quiet" music. Yet, Santaolalla's music is not jumpy or upbeat, but rather calm, almost on an ambient note, incorporating instruments native to South America.
In the score to "21 Grams", thanks to the extensive use of the bandoneon, there's a strong Argentinian flavor in the midst of the darkness that the music carries. The songs almost all have a voice of their own, which allows them to answer in musical terms the questions that the songtitles pose: "Do We Lose 21 Grams?", "Can I Be Forgiven?", "Can Light Be Found In The Darkness?". Complementing Santaolalla's tracks are a solid Ozomatli song, inviting eclectic tunes by War and Ann Sexton, a Ronroco-like song by Kronos Quartet and the most interesting rendition of "Shake Rattle and Roll" you will ever hear, sung (or rather recited in a dark tone) by Benicio Del Toro himself.
Though I didn't find the album to be his best work to date (I still feel his first one, "Ronroco" and the OST to "Amores Perros", which he majestically produced, are his best and second best albums), still I recommend it as an incredible work, one that I particularly enjoy listening at night, while writing or reading.
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