Cameron is correct, the best space film of all time

Rating: 10/10 (26 October 2013)

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 Cauron 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, untethered 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 weightless ness 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 and, but the way it is presented is astonishing.