Gravity.

Review #1565: Gravity.

Cast:

Sandra Bullock (Dr. Ryan Stone), George Clooney (Lieutenant Matt Kowalski), with Ed Harris (Mission Control), Orto Ignatiussen (Aningaaq), and Phaldut Sharma (Shariff Dasari) Directed by Alfonso Cuarón (#119 - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

Review:

"Every day, we thought: 'This is not going to work. It was a process of trial and error, and little, little hints of hope, and also a lot of mistakes. The only test screening that we had, months before the film was finished, was a disaster."

If you find yourself nearly reaching the age of 60, you can always look back upon the company you kept in the years that helped shape your path and hopefully enjoy the places it goes to in terms of dutiful interest. Alfonso Cuaron was born in Mexico City in 1961 to a family of dedicated individuals that included a doctor and biochemist for parents. He studied philosophy and filmmaking at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and (Centro Universitario de Estudios Cinematográficos, respectively. He started work behind the camera with short films alongside work in television by the time he was in his 20s that eventually led to getting a chance to direct his own feature. Sólo con tu pareja (1991) proved a worthy hit, which he directed/co-wrote/produced/co-edited, and it was followed by his first American production with A Little Princess (1995 - the first of three straight productions with him solely as director) and further films that received attention such as Y tu mamá también (2001) and Children of Men (2006). For this film, he served as co-producer, co-writer (with his son Jonás) and co-editor (with Mark Sanger).

It is a film that proved a worthy challenge to develop to the vision that Cuarón wanted to show taking years to develop into a project to greenlight because of the challenge to make a film that would have 80% of its 90 minute run-time be CG (with the exception of the face of the actor) - we are talking about doing lengthy zero-g environment scenes with carefully planned out shots and years of research. He was inspired by the films he watched as a child that interacted with his love of space such as A Trip to the Moon (1902), Marooned (1969), and Woman in the Moon (1929), although he did not plan originally to do a film in space, having started with a theme of adversity that he talked with his son about survival scenarios before getting to an idea of an astronaut spinning into space away from human contact as seeming like the perfect metaphor. The real challenge is probably having to act in a film with set positions and timing that came after all the animation required beforehand. Bullock and Clooney are the two actors who had to deal with this type of positioning because they are the only physical faces we seen on screen at all, with sprinkling of voices of others from time to time. The intrigue of seeing the film rides high on that opening and its lengthy opening shot that is quite exquisite. I found it to be quite a thrill ride, one that finds its voice of adversity and rebirth with well-done execution in pacing and tone that makes us feel like we are part of the experience of space and all that come from it (I can only imagine how it must have felt in 3D, which is likely a statement that could be applied to quite a few features in this decade - for better or worse). There is a profound enjoyment I have for something like this, one that moves and shakes from moment to moment that goes right in hand with survival films from the past with bated breath over what might happen next. Bullock does just fine with that in mind, one who reacts with useful timing for a role needing a vocal winner that can seem the part without just being a green screen puppet - basically, she is the one needed for space drama. Clooney is the other to bounce off of for certain moments, which he does alright by. There are a few quibbles that could be had with some of what occurs in the story, such as the use of the Space Shuttle for a mission past its actual shutdown in 2011 - but we are talking a movie here that involves a thrill ride for enjoyment, and pretending that the shuttle is still being used to help with space travel is perfectly fine by me, because if you can at least come close to seeming as majestic about space as Apollo 13 (1995) did while including tension-pounding moments for entertainment, you can't go wrong with this kind of sci-fi drama. It isn't a perfect film by any means, but it is a fascinating film for its adventure of adversity that can be a thrill ride for those who seek where it ultimately goes in exploration beyond just the stars.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.