Movies: Gravity

Score:  **** out of ***** (A-)

Long Story Short:  One of 2013's first big Oscar contenders, Gravity, floats into theaters.  A surprisingly straightforward film (for all its awards fanfare), Gravity seizes your attention by immersing you in its zero gravity environment and following the terrifying action without breaks in the action (or edit) for tension-filled minutes at a time.  Bullock astounds with her physical acting, and Clooney is a comforting presence.  Go see it, in 3D.


Now that we're into October, it's fully fall movie season (although September surprisingly offered up two good films as well).  This is where we get most of the year's best dramas, many of which will show up at 2014's Oscars.  As I've noted, 2012 had a spectacular fall movie season, and hopefully 2013 can impress as well.  For as long as I've known about Gravity, I've heard good things about it; based on the trailer, though, I was confused about what kind of film it was.  Still, the raves kept coming in, and I also found it was directed by Alfonso Cuaron - the director of Children of Men, one of the best movies I've seen, period.  Along with Cuaron's directing, Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

Well, since there's not much of a conventional "plot" to Gravity, and since much of it should be kept secret until you see it, this is going to be a short summary.  We start off in space, with a team from NASA - scientist Ryan Stone (Bullock), astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney), and an engineer.  They are working on a telescope, but it isn't long before they get a warning of impending danger from mission control.  Unlike the approaching rumble of an army or beast, this danger gives no sonic warning (being in space), and soon disaster strikes.  Kowalski locates a frightened Stone in the aftermath, but suddenly space just got a lot bigger and scarier - and the initial disaster will strike them again unless they get back to Earth in time.

Gravity features basically two performances.  The lead is taken by Sandra Bullock as expert scientist but amateur astronaut Dr. Ryan Stone.  Having read about the innovative way they filmed this, I have enormous respect for Bullock (they basically put her in a box for hours and told her to act as if she were in space).  For that technical prowess, Bullock likely deserves an Oscar nomination.  However, hers is not a particularly well developed character - more on that later.  Clooney, in a smaller role, plays confident veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski.  As the shit hits the fan and flies out into space in all directions, Clooney is the one comforting, reassuring part of the situation.  I totally bought him as a hotshot but compassionate astronaut and what he brings to the film is essential.

Based on all the raves I'd been hearing about Gravity, I assumed that it had a large philosophical or character-based component - but no, this is essentially a thriller (albeit a whole new kind).  And that's not a bad thing.  Everything in this film is directly related to the central crisis - there are a few minutes at the beginning and the end that serve as introduction and conclusion, but they are welcome respites from the tension throughout the rest of the film.  The two main elements that make Gravity stand apart are its immersion and continuous editing (which reinforce each other).  The immersion is created by the unique filming mentioned earlier - the actors float through much of the film, and the camera is almost always right on top of them (one particular scene at the beginning has Bullock spinning upside down out of control to a degree that I almost felt sick).  The continuous editing is kind of self-explanatory:  there are entire scenes that consist of one extended shot - in other words, the action doesn't shift to another camera angle or skip crucial seconds of action.  The immersion and continuous editing make for quite an intense experience.

***

While Gravity is "only" a thriller, it is a kind that you've never seen before (see notes about immersive and editing techniques above).  I also went to see it in 3D - forced to, since there was only one 2D showing per day, but I am very glad that I did.  Like Life of Pi, this film actually uses the extra dimension to add realism and depth to the film rather than as a gimmick.  The first two-thirds or so, at least, is just a roller coaster ride - but there were so many new elements that were available to Cuaron, taking place in outer space.  Constantly being feet, inches, or millimeters from the abyss keeps the characters - and audience - in perpetual dread.  Still, not all is perfect with Gravity.  At a certain point - I can't be specific without ruining some things - it starts to lose steam and/or originality.  This is the same point at which Gravity tries to turn toward Stone's past as motivation for her survival.  There just isn't enough to be meaningful or interesting, so it just ends up bogging things down - a totally straightforward survival story would have been preferable.  That's why Gravity falls short of a straight "A".  Still, I highly recommend this film - and don't just see it in the theater, go see it in 3D.