by Leigh Campbell, photos courtesy of MCT Campus
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Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity,” a gripping space drama about a stranded astronaut, shattered October box office records, grossing $55.7 million in its opening weekend. Not to mention, the movie was also the highest grossing movie debut for Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The movie has been earning more than just money, critics like Daniel Bettridge describe it as “simply a great movie.”
Bullock plays a stranded astronaut, Dr.Ryan Stone, trapped in space. The movie is far from Bullock’s feel-good past works like “The Proposal.” Like Bullock, “Gravity” proves different from Cuarón’s previous works like “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.” “Gravity” is visually the most compelling movie to date, as evidence by its $100 million budget, but if you are looking for a feel-good, only-scratch-the-surface movie, it is not for you.
“Gravity” is a physically and emotionally engaging film. Cuarón’s techniques, like placing the viewer inside the head of Stone, leave you feeling like you too, are trapped in space.
Like the 2009 “Avatar,” “Gravity” masterly manipulates 3-D visual effects, making audiences flinch at pieces of shrapnel seemingly flying straight at them.
Part of human nature is being social; to be trapped in space thousands of miles from other humans encompasses one of the deepest fears in the nature of human beings. Such a deep undertaking was a risky move by Cuarón, but he successfully expresses these innate feelings through these visual effects.
Not only through the filmography does Cuarón achieve realistic representation of space, the audio pulls viewers in. Stone’s heartbeat, pieces of flying shrapnel, the ticking of a clock. These are all sounds that are used to successfully resonate with the viewer.
Beyond the physical aspect of the film, Cuarón repeatedly pushes the message of rebirth as a way of coping, and as critic Monika
Bartyzel puts it “as hope for the future.” Images like Stone in a fetal position surrounded by cords immediately trigger images of a fetus in a mother’s womb.
Although Cuarón’s slick technical effects will one day look old, this message of hope will always resonate with viewers; another reason why “Gravity” goes deeper than just the typical visual, keep-you-on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie.
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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Cast: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney
Release Date: October 4, 2013
Runtime: 100 minutes
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