Wow! Just, wow!

Rating: 10/10 (23 October 2013)

Wow! Just, wow!
Let's deal with the negative aspects of Gravity first, which are few and almost negligible: I was forced into seeing Gravity in 3D. It wouldn't have been my choice but that was the format of the screening. There are one or two cheep shots (bolts flying into the face) that are nothing more than gimmickry but, to counteract my criticism, I haven't seen 3D work this well since Hugo or witnessed the impressive depth of field afforded by 3D since Avatar. Secondly, George Clooney coasts along in a Doug Ross performance that blends sincerity with a jokey bedside manner. However, it works. Gravity isn't a movie of Oscar-winning performances (though watch out for the nominations and the clean up at the technical Oscars) but of spectacle.
Astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) is commanding his final space shuttle mission, onboard Explorer, accompanied by debutant Doctor Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock). During a standard spacewalk to service the Hubble Space Telescope, they are struck by debris travelling at great speed, destroying the shuttle and leaving them spinning in space.
After watching the trailer, I had two thoughts: 1. The trailer gave away the entire film and 2. How the heck could co-writer/director Alfonso Cuarón fill 91 minutes with two people floating in the great beyond? It took approximately two minutes to forget my fears and marvel at his achievements.
Stunning, amazing, fantastic, superb, beautiful. Pick your superlative. All are apt. Gravity is a ridiculously tense film that had me close to tears at one point and frequently pushing my feet hard against the floor in a vain attempt to help the astronauts survive. Grab it, stop, for the love of god grab something
The digital work is astounding. It's like climbing into an ever evolving painting and making it one's own world. The sensation of weightlessness is achieved flawlessly through wirework and digital magic. Space has never looked so beautiful nor been so devastatingly destructive. Every wide shot could be frozen, framed and mounted above the fireplace.
It's not often I am compelled to mention the camera work but the shots here are at times staggeringly good. There is one particular fluid shot where the camera sweeps slowly before Ryan's terrified face, turning slowly to slide through her helmet and present her point of view before seamlessly retreating along the same arc. For this cineaste, that was a moment!
The screenplay is sparse on dialogue, in comparison to most big screen offerings, but not a single word is wasted. Co-written with his son, Jonás, Cuarón's screenplay is at times gently amusing and often taut with clipped utterances. Like oxygen supplies in space, words are not to be squandered. The visual feast before us tells us more than the dialogue and Steven Price's magnificent, atmospheric score completes the experience as strikingly as the elongated silences. With all the ingredients blended, Gravity is ridiculously tense! It almost hurts to watch it but it demands repeated viewings and my second will be tonight.
Though there are peripheral characters, notably Ed Harris as the voice of Mission Control (just one of many references to space and sci-fi flicks gone by), Gravity is a film of two actors who are frequently isolated on the screen.
Clooney is a natural, formidable presence. If one were lost in space and facing possible death 940,000 miles from home, his Matt Kowalski would be high on the wish list of companions in doom. Largely a vocal performance (it's difficult to see much of him behind the helmet), his performance is a tangible aspect in a situation we could never fully appreciate. He leaves us in no doubt as to the urgency of their predicament while refusing to carry a scythe and read the last rites. Matt is the astronaut equivalent of a surgeon finding the humorous benefit of weight loss via amputation.
Sandra Bullock has never been better. Not even when earning her Oscar for The Blind Side. No, she may not strike double gold with Ryan, but what on earth is she doing trudging through bilge like The Heat when she is capable of this? It is very difficult to carry a film as (frequently) the lone performer with no-one to bounce off but Bullock's performance is beautifully controlled and profoundly affecting. Perhaps the backstory is a little contrived but that is not her fault and, more to the point, it makes Ryan human and allows the events to unfold as they do. Watching Bullock in Gravity, one wonders if we have seen the birth of a career butterfly finally emerging after 25 years from a comfortable chrysalis.
Maybe I'm going soft, maybe I'm hormonal, or perhaps I've just been lucky this past three weeks and seen three fantastic films (after The Kings of Summer and Captain Phillips), but Gravity is stunning. I emerged from the screening drained and I have to see it again.
On a slight tangent, earlier this week a certain BBC presenter referred to Gravity as 'this year's Life of Pi.' My heart sank as I thought he implied that none of it had actually happened and that perhaps Ryan would awake to find herself at peace in another place with it all having been in her mind. For those who heard the same report, fear not. The comparison comes from Matt and Ryan being shipwrecked, albeit in space, and the phenomenal special effects. There is a crash, they are floating in space and Gravity is nothing short of an exquisite film.
With all the eloquence I can muster, wow!