Gravity (2013, PG-13)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Oh, yes – expect Oscar movies as well.  I went on a crash course after the nominations came out and, for the first time since they upped the numbers, saw all nine best picture nominees and polished off the remainder of films nominated for the acting categories.  Not all of them will pop up here, but my favorites may make appearances.

 

My long-standing appreciation for Alfonso Cuarón began with A Little Princess, a gorgeous film that captivated me when I was a tyke.  I was at this time completely unaware that he’d directed it, but years later, when I saw and loved Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban so much more than the Chris Columbus outings that had preceded it, I investigated.  It was then that I discovered the man who’d been responsible for one of my favorite childhood films; I dug deeper, exploring his work from the steamy Y tu mamá también to the thoughtful Children of Men.

 

Well, in Gravity, Cuarón has a heart-stopping triumph.  The expansive-yet-intimate film follows Dr. Ryan Stone, a biomedical engineer on her first NASA mission.  A freak accident results in Ryan detaching from her craft, and she’s flung dizzily through space, careening upside down and sideways in zero gravity.  Her attempts to save herself and return to Earth propel the film, packed with suspense, fear, and drive.

 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that so well captures the enormity and yet the paradoxical claustrophobia of space.  When Ryan initially detaches, she tumbles away with the dazzling universe stretching out infinitely in every direction.  At the same time, however, she’s trapped within her spacesuit, hyperventilating in her helmet and gravely aware that it’s the only thing separating her from the deep freeze, lack of oxygen, and crushing pressure of the vacuum.  The camera deftly, effortlessly, shifts perspective to expose these two at-odds qualities.  I tell you, if Emmanuel Lubezki hadn’t finally won an Oscar for his cinematography here, I might have had to hit someone.  

 

Aside from exciting, terrifying, and massive, space looks stunning in this film.  Just incredibly beautiful.  The effects work is tremendous – I don’t know how they mimicked zero-gravity movement so wonderfully and strikingly, but it’s a definite home run.  If there’s a fault to be found with the movie, it’s that the story is on the thin side, and some of the dialogue (though, truth be told, there’s not much of it) is rather on-the-nose.  Still, the premise is gripping, and the film succeeds emotionally where it doesn’t always work practically.

 

A lot of credit for that goes to Sandra Bullock’s performance as Ryan.  It’s her story through and through, and while we only get snatches of what Ryan’s life is like, we’re given a complete window into the woman herself.  Bullock portrays the heroine’s emotions so completely that one can’t help but be moved.  Her panic and terror had me on edge, her loneliness and exhaustion made me ache for her, and I cheered at her bravery and determination.  A fantastic performance to match a great character.

 

Warnings

 

Brief strong language, and intense suspense and frightening situations.