Archive for October 19th, 2013

Gravity

Director: Alfonso Cuaron

Cast: George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, Ed Harris

If brevity is the soul of wit, then gravity is the point of origin. Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s fascinating space disaster film Gravity is brief, sublime and an inspiring cinematic message to protect and appreciate the Earth. Cuaron’s impressive filmography includes Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men and the 1998 version of Great Expectations.

Unlike his friend fellow Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro, Cuaron’s elegant space adventure avoids the clunky spectacle of Pacific Rim, but retains the awe setting almost the entire ninety minutes of Gravity in space, with superb sound effects and brilliant visuals.

Director Alfonso Cuaron emphasizes not just the physical weightlessness of space, but also the terrifying silence and infinity balanced by a deep visual appreciation of Planet Earth retaining all the emotional resonance as seen through the eyes of two astronauts medical engineer Ryan Stone (played against type by Oscar Winner Sandra Bullock) and the smooth talking Matt Kowalsky (naturally played by Oscar winner George Clooney).

Houston we do have a problem as American astronauts Stone and Kowalsky have to deal with being stranded in space after debris from a Russian satellite hits their NASA space ship near the international space station.

Space, the gravitational pull of the earth and the will to survive are just as much featured characters as these two stranded astronauts grapple with an escape plan to return to Mother Earth. Cuaron deliberately avoids the sophisticated social dichotomy of rich and poor so gorgeously illustrated in Neil Blomkamp’s Elysium providing no counterpoint to Stone and Kowalski’s space adventure except the enduring will of the human spirit to survive at all costs.

Gravity is really a 3D visual spectacle with an ambient score by Steven Price and beautiful groundbreaking cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki to tell a very simple story of the emotional and physical impact of human beings stranded in space. For viewers suffering from vertigo or dizziness, Gravity is not for you, as Cuaron’s direction makes the viewer feel that they are in space throughout the film, an astounding and groundbreaking visual trick, helped by strong performances by Hollywood A Listers’ Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Images of Engineer Stone in Gravity pay homage to Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey and the central female character with a man’s name becomes an allegorical symbol of all mankind seemingly helpless against the celestial powers, not to mention Mother Nature’s central gravitational pull. Gravity is inspiring, underwritten yet beautifully shot.

Fans of Moon and 2001: A Space Odyssey will find Gravity spell bounding. See Gravity in 3D to experience the visual and digital impact otherwise not at all.