Poignant, heartfelt drama

Rating: 10/10 (12 May 2005)

A terse, compelling multi-threaded plot that has some of the most heart-wrenching moments I've experienced in film. The characters and their story lines are so economically etched that there is not a second of "Crash" that does not drive the story forward. There is a key scene in each story line that, if you're not totally gripped by the throat, then you either haven't been paying attention, or you don't have a human heart.
"Crash," like any multi-plotted film (ex: "Gosford Park," "Traffic," "The Hours," "Amores Perros") requires diligence on the audience's part -- this is not "Die Hard" or "Lethal Weapon" (both great films) -- but the cost of entry is merely perceptive viewing, and the payoff is huge.