By Vanessa Cano
Being an astronaut was on many people’s Top 10 list of “Things I want to be when I grow up,” and after watching “Gravity,” moviegoers will never experience childhood desire more intensely. This film is an incredible sensory adventure that should be experienced while it is still in theaters. Directed and written by Alfonso Cuarón (“Children of Men,” 2006), this four-and-a-half-year labor was filmed in 3D to make the experience as spectacular and believable as possible. Any other platform will not do this movie justice.
The film begins as a quiet rumbling is heard and a few lines of small white text play against the vast black background that describes the mercilessness of space. You hear whispers of “What?” and “Wow…” escape among the audience as the rumble grows louder and louder; you’re surrounded by it. Then, at its climax: Silence. The Earth appears in all of its majesty, your eyes wide open, welling with tears of awe. A faint radio conversation is heard to the right of the theater, easily confused for an usher that must be escorting a patron to their seat. But no: The radio chatter becomes clear and travels from one side to the other until the conversation surrounds the audience and a space shuttle and its crew are seen at a distance.
We meet experienced astronaut Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney) and first-timer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) as they execute their mission. Jokes, stories, and a routine procedure quickly take a turn for the worse as NASA informs them that an explosion has created shrapnel that is bound to fatally hit them. Seventeen minutes of peaceful scenery end and the fight to hold on for life begins.
This movie is a great treat to the senses and the mind. The visual elements are rendered realistically and beautifully, with scenes of fire and tears in zero gravity that leave an impression on the viewer and 3D technology that brings the audience right into the film as objects whiz right off the screen. The camera seamlessly goes from scene to scene, making this film feel like a continuous journey, and from first person to omniscient point of view. Dolby Atmos sound technology intensifies the audience interaction with the film as the sound travels from speaker to speaker. It’s a smart tool to use, considering that there is no sound in space. The only way to make up for that is to create a sensation out of what little can be heard—voices—and we are brought right inside those astronaut helmets.
The most satisfying take-away is how Cuarón manages to disable our capacity to empathize with the characters, and creates an experience that is beyond emotional understanding. Empathy is used as a way to experience the world, but how can we understand a matter of life and death under the conditions of space? Wrapping our heads around what these characters are going through is unsettling but somehow refreshing. The audience can’t know how to feel about what is going on. We can empathize with the torturous scenario of “Saw” or even the fight between good and evil in “Avatar,” both extreme and fantastical examples. But with “Gravity,” we are witnessing the unbelievable. We are left without intuition or experience to guide us, and it is like we are giving ourselves up to a higher power. We are free from the distraction about how we should feel and are left with pure experience, like a baby taking in the world for the first time.
One thing Cuarón could have paid more attention to was character development. Clooney and Bullock were great picks as actors, yet while the script challenges their imagination and physical creativity, as they were in a white room for filming, their characters lack depth. The director should have used their talents as actors to bring out more of the intellect and spirit that this kind of ordeal would require.
Other than that, the cinematic experience and the array of emotions to be felt are worth the trip to the theatre. Those waiting to see it when it comes out on DVD or on Netflix will be missing out, and in such case, ignorance is bliss. As Dr. Ryan Stone puts it, “Either way, it’s going to be one hell of a ride.”
*
By Nichole Harmon
Alfonso Cuarón’s new space thriller “Gravity” is an intense and stunning visual experience that will leave you in awe. After a seven-year break from the narrative filmmaking, and a delay of four years waiting for the technology to advance, the director stayed true to form and created an emotional film that immerses the audience in a world of chaos within the stillness of space.
The story and dialogue, written by Cuarón and his son Jonas, are nothing special. Astronauts Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) are working outside the shuttle Explorer when they get word that an obsolete Russian satellite has been purposefully destroyed and is sending shrapnel and debris hurtling towards them. When it hits, Stone, who is a medical engineer on her first trip into orbit, becomes untethered and is sent hurtling into space. Kowalski, who is much more experienced, is able to save her. But this sets up a series of disasters that propels the film and ultimately sends Stone on a lonely and treacherous journey through space, trying to find a way back to Earth.
The visual storytelling is what makes the film, and without it, the experience wouldn’t be nearly as compelling. The real star of “Gravity” is cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezski (who worked with Cuarón on “Children of Men”). Despite the huge technological aspect, Lubezski put the actors into a “light box” in order to get the right environmental lighting, rather than handing it off to visual effects. Together, Lubezski and Cuarón bring you into the minds of the characters with the use of point-of-view shots and extreme close-ups. Much like watching a scene of someone being buried alive, when Dr. Stone’s oxygen is running low and her breath is labored, you feel her stress and panic.
The struggles onscreen feel physical and real in your seat. Every bump and jerk that sends Stone spinning is a jolt in your seat, every time she misses something to hold onto, it’s a very real frustration for the audience.
The stillness and quietness of space is juxtaposed with the rising tension of these oncoming threats and the shock of their impact. Unlike other action films or space thrillers, there is no named threat or monster waiting off screen. The horror of the film comes from the location itself as one lone woman tries to navigate untethered through space. The few moments of tension release come from Clooney’s character sharing stories from his life on Earth.
Throughout the film, nowhere feels safe. Even when Stone makes it inside another space station, there is always a sense of uneasiness, which is always soon to be justified. The score, composed by Steven Price, largely echoes this uneasiness. Price builds the sound louder and louder, only to cut it abruptly into silence, leaving you disoriented, and with a ringing in your ears that bleed into the emptiness of space.
Visual effects supervisor Tim Webber, who also worked on “Children of Men,” meets the complicated challenge of making Bullock appear weightless in space. Industrial robots were used and programmed to move the actors through space, and make them appear as though they were in zero gravity. Anything less than perfect would break the illusion and bring the audience out of the weightless world they had created. Thankfully the hard work paid off and the zero gravity was seamless, helping to create the striking visual storytelling.