I have been waiting for this movie for years, yet I did not
know that GRAVITY would be the film that re birthed my passion and love for the
art and craft of film-making. I never knew that the simple premise of two
stranded astronauts in space would bring about such exuberant and elated
exclamations of absolute astonishment. Yet, from the moment I saw the most
perfect image of the earth in the opening sequence of this film, I knew I was
witnessing something special, something unique and something that would be seen
as a pinnacle of the future of cinema – a film that historians would look back
too as the genesis of the new age of film.
Yes, it is that good. But let me tell you why.
Alfonso Cuaron does something not seen in film, that I can
recall, ever. With the use of the 3D format, remarkable cinematography and the
films unyielding soundtrack, he delicately and sneakily submerges us into the
film with each slow tracking shot and close-up. It’s not until the first 10
minutes has passed that you realise that this has occurred all in one sweeping,
continuous shot. Yet so much has happened in it, so much detail and movement
that you need to blink away the awe. It makes you feel weightless; like you are
floating in the scene with Sandra and George. The 3D is often the winner
throughout this film and adds the “experience” that its supposed to offer you.
This is 3D at its best, miles ahead of Avatar and appreciatingly used to
advance the films narrative like Hugo.
Films with minimal or singular characters have been done
before, some successfully, some not so. To take on a film of this kind takes
courage and a belief in the director’s vision and faith in the writers story.
Most recently – and successfully – the films Moon and Buried have centred
on a plot of single characters to create a tense and meaningful story. Gravity relies on the fact that being
lost in space, is second only to being lost at sea and both are equally
frightening. Being adrift in the vastness of space is a hauntingly terrifying
prospect considering the chances of being rescued are nil. And it is this image
that replays over and over again; a solitary figure clad in white, detached from the umbilical of safety, adrift against a blanket of black. It’s
frightening.
I do not want to give away too much of the story. I would
encourage you to remain impartial, don’t go in with expectations and try not to
read anything about how the plot of the story is revealed, slow take by slow
take, but I will say that this is a well-crafted and executed idea. This is a
story of triumph at its heart, a woman, and a strong (often flawed one) woman
at that, overcomes the impossible when the easier option was to simply give up.
The imagery is stark and brutally honest with cinematography
that is fluid and beautiful. The majesty of the earth as the films backdrop
provides awe and wonder, never getting in the way of the details or the
characters. There are moments in this film where I found myself mesmerised by
the action, often in the slow-motion of weightlessness, debris from a disintegrating
space-station flies around the screen and into the audience at what feels like rapid motion, but is actually
much slower. So much is said in the stillness and silence of the images
presented on the screen. One moment I will mention is when Ryan (Sandra
Bullock) enters the space station after breathing carbon monoxide for at least
5 minutes. The instant she is within the air lock and able to breathe oxygen
she passes out in zero-gravity, spinning gently as if she was a foetus in the
womb. It is stunning imagery like this
that makes Gravity a beautiful film to watch.
The other masterstroke of this film is the soundtrack and
sound effects. Finally a film that does not shy away from the reality that in
space no one can hear anything. To see exploding space stations, and space
shuttles, without the sound of the explosion, all shown in the silence of space
is truly a remarkable experience in itself. To think, we have been saturated
with this unreal concept that anything that blows up in space does so as it
would earth – loud and at normal speed, then when we see it how it really is,
it is simply frightening. To see someone escape wayward debris that is
travelling with no sound and in the weightlessness of zero-gravity, combined
with the loud, thrilling operatic music that saturates the audience, you are not
on the edge of your seat, but on the floor peeping through your fingers trying
to swallow your heart.
Gravity succeeds where so many films fail. It is simple. The
script is easy. The story is basic, but the way it is presented is
astonishing.
You must see this film. In 3D and in Imax.
This is now officially my second-favourite film of all time.
the best film of 2013...and a surefire winner at the Oscars.
5 popcorns.
