'Seven Pounds'

Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT) - "Seven Pounds" is a difficult story, multi-layered, spare and full of detail, thoughtfully told. Its goal is to stir, rouse, reach deep into your guts, and leave you shaken and upset _ yet hopeful. Because its story of atonement and accountability relies on slowly unfolding secrets, much of what follows will be vague.

It's clear from the opening moments that Will Smith is playing a man whose emotional gyroscope is badly damaged. Ben Thomas' behavior is baffling and somewhat sinister. He lives in a seaside California villa, its austere, Asian-inspired "W Hotel" look accented with an eerie accessory: a jellyfish aquarium. Something is out of whack.

Just what is wrong and how Thomas aims to put it right is the point of the disquieting story. Flashing credentials as an IRS auditor, he interviews several people whose cases intrigue him. He grills them about their lives, smiling with his teeth while holding them in a judgmental gaze, seemingly less interested in their Schedule C than their immortal souls. He probes into areas of their lives that rarely concern tax agents: illness, domestic abuse, dashed hopes, the way they treat others who depend on their care. We learn that he intends to intervene in the destiny of several strangers, significantly altering their lives. To what end, we don't quickly learn.

The man and his mission remain mysterious for much of the film. Thomas taunts a milquetoast customer-service operator (Woody Harrelson) and roughs up a nursing home administrator. His expression conveys anger tinged with despair; his best friend (Barry Pepper) is deeply worried about his state of mind. He was once in love, and when he meets a terminally ill tax delinquent played by Rosario Dawson, that feeling begins to dawn again.

She is a good-hearted woman with a failing heart. Thomas' sense of estrangement begins to evaporate in the face of her warmth, his chilly restraint thaws and his sense of purpose begins to wobble. The man who set out to remake seven lives starts to reassess his own. His sense of purpose was shattered, and late in the day he begins to question his furious battle to put it back together.

"Seven Pounds" reteams Smith with Gabriele Muccino, who guided the actor to an Oscar nomination as a homeless job-seeker in "The Pursuit of Happyness." Once again, he puts Smith in a melancholy drama with redemptive themes and follows him to new emotional depths. Like the earlier film, "Seven Pounds" trades on themes of instability and loss that resonate with many viewers. Life, liberty and cheerful pursuits feel like quaint mementos of a naive past age. The precariousness of all we hold dear is drummed into our heads in a 24-hour news cycle.

"Seven Pounds" translates this tension into a story of romance, suspense and tragedy. Muccino fractures the story in modernistic style, an appropriate way to depict Smith's troubled psyche. The film presents disconnected snippets of his perplexing behavior and challenges us to weave it all into context. When we finally discover the trauma that triggered Smith's quest, it feels conventional and a contrived, but the script is tough-minded about how things would pan out for a man in his situation.

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The acting ensemble is skillful. Smith is compellingly grim and vulnerable as the alienated antihero; he has deepened as an actor and his talent radiates from the screen in every frame. Dawson gives a blessedly natural performance and has the knack of looking beautiful without ever appearing glamorous.

"Seven Pounds" takes their relationship somewhere unexpected. It's not a standard romance but a parable about how a good person's effort to do the right thing can blur the lines between right and wrong. When we finally see the story in its full outlines, we have a lot left to think about.

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SEVEN POUNDS

3 stars

Starring: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson

Directed by: Gabriele Muccino

Rated PG-13 for thematic material, some disturbing content and a scene of sensuality.

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© 2008, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)