|
 (101113)
Thanks to the technological advances brought about by the advent of CGI
technology and the like, things that would have once been impossible to pull off
only a short time ago are now commonplace sights at the multiplex. The trouble
is that since the filmmakers have too often chosen to sacrifice such elements as
character and story in order to focus on such state-of-the-art miracles, most of
these sights, as spectacular as they may be in theory, rarely register as
anything more than eye candy that provides a momentary thrill or two but which
fails to make any lasting impression on their audiences. "Gravity," the new film
from Alfonso Cuaron, accomplishes any number of things in spectacular fashion
but its most astonishing achievement may be the way that it restores a sense of
genuine excitement and wonder to the movie going experience. Unfathomably
complex from a technical standpoint and startlingly direct and pure in terms of
emotional drama, this is easily one of the best and most memorable films of the
year.
“Gravity” is a film that will be discussed for years to come. It redefines the
use of visual effects, sound design, and cinematography to tell an ambitious
story that reaches beyond planetary confines to explore life in space, and how
the human survival instinct responds to an alien environment. Impressively
large-scale yet intimately emotional, “Gravity” treads familiar ground in terms
of an adventurous pile-on of catastrophe, but the details of the feature are
extraordinary, unlike anything put on screen before. It’s an astronaut
experience that delivers an exquisite you-are-there head rush, making it one of
the most technically sophisticated pictures of the last decade. “Gravity” is not
easily flushed from the system after a viewing.
On a space shuttle mission to repair parts of the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr.
Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is adjusting to her first mission, trying to
concentrate on work while struggling with sickness issues. Overseeing the
assignment is astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a confident veteran who
regales his crew and mission control (voiced by Ed Harris) with reheated stories
of earthbound revelry. When debris from a Russian satellite suddenly enters
range, the team hurries to escape harm, only to find themselves right in the
middle of the metal storm. Shredding the shuttle, wreckage separates Stone from
Kowalski, leaving the newcomer floating away into deep space. Struggling to
mount a rescue mission, Kowalski eventually reconnects to Stone, with the pair
facing a true test of training as they float toward the International Space
Station space station
while their oxygen reserves are slowly depleted.
“Gravity” marks the return of director Alfonso Cuaron (who also co-scripts) to
the screen, his first effort since 2006’s “Children of Men.” Cuaron trusts in a
concentrated visual language, often more comfortable showing his characters in
action than having them describe their concerns. Although it only features two
actors for most of the movie, “Gravity” is a mammoth
production that takes the audience high above Earth, observing the team carry on
with their daily business of repair and banter, finding Stone immersed in
satellite repair while Kowalski glides around the shuttle on a jet pack, amusing
the crew with his raconteur ways, treating the mission as perfectly routine. The
sensation of space, its stillness and silence (Cuaron plays with deafening
sounds to trick the ear into submission), is immediately understood, while the
camera swirls throughout the shuttle, picking up bits of business as it winds
around the characters in seamless shots that marry technological excellence with
storytelling economy, getting to know the lay of the land in a matter of
minutes.
Space is treated with awe, with enormity, revealing its vast depth and power as
disaster strikes, forcing Kowalski into rescue mode as Stone is kicked away from
the shuttle, frantically trying to recall her training as air supplies are
quickly exhausted. The opening disaster of “Gravity” is mind-blowing, studying
sheer terror as the untested astronaut scrambles to collect herself, with Cuaron
exploring Stone’s experience of helpless by slipping in and out of her helmet,
exposing every last hyperventilated second of panic before Kowalski engineers a
rescue attempt. It’s a harrowing sequence in its indefatigable suspense and
touch of realism, making the viewer believe Clooney and Bullock are actually
above the Earth, fighting for their lives. “Gravity” contains several of these
moments, yet all the major set-pieces are unparalleled in their expert execution
and nail-chewing tension, with the action eventually headed into the
claustrophobic confines of a space station, where the American professionals are
forced to pilot Russian equipment.
As huge as “Gravity” is, with seamless visual effects that fool the eye, the
production is eager to bring the struggle down to a human scale, tracking
Stone’s reflection on the death of her child, exposing a past event where she
was challenged with hopelessness, motivating her to keep up the fight despite
unrelenting setbacks. Bullock hasn’t been this natural in a long time,
delivering a career-best performance as the overwhelmed astronaut. Vulnerable
and crisply scattered, Bullock aids the tension masterfully, adding a dire sense
of confusion that’s superbly undercut with irritation, keeping the character
prickly as she grows frustrated with disaster after disaster. Clooney has the
more traditional leadership role, but he’s aces in the part, adding welcome
charm and authority to “Gravity,” while responsible for the film’s few flashes
of humor (tiny bits to lighten the oppressive mood).
Scored with an ominous electro storm front by Steven Price and captured with
cinematic innovation by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity” is a sound
and vision event that’s absolutely riveting. It brings space to the multiplex in
an entirely fresh manner, making the feature a technical marvel to match its
primitive but effective dramatic reach. There just isn’t anything like it in
theaters right now, and probably won’t be for years to come.
"Gravity" is one of the very best films of the year--the kind of undeniably
ambitious work that swings for the fences in virtually every scene and winds up
connecting far more often than not. There are plenty of films these days that
call themselves "epic" because they cost hundreds of millions of dollars and
smear their visual effects across the screen like the frosting on a cheap
cupcake but in terms of ambition, size and scope, this is the rare movie fully
deserving of the appellation. This is not the kind of movie that one can
properly experience while watching it on an iPad, a phone or on some junky
multiplex screen the size of a postage stamp--it needs to be seen on the biggest
screen possible and while such add-ons as 3D and IMAX usually offer viewers
little more than additional charge to the ticket price, they are deployed so
beautifully here that they are pretty much essential to its presentation. No
matter how you see it, however, it is a certainty that it will not be drifting
from your memory anytime soon.
|
