7/27/2019 Gravity The Glory of Cinemas Future

1/3

Gravity: The Glory of Cinemas Future

NASA scientist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) floats above earth outside her shuttle like a fetus in the womb of space. The ship is her metallic mother; her lifeline is the umbilical cord. She can see her partner in the project, astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), who communicates through radio; but Ryan, with her space-suit placenta, is an image of humanity alone among the starsmajestic andvulnerable. An artist as well as an explorer, she mimes a dancers slow, gracefultumbling maneuvers. In the Space Odyssey that is Alfonso Cuarns Gravity, Ryan is Space Goddessy.

An epic of desperate peril and profound wonder, Gravity provides the same blast of awe that greeted Ang Lees Life of Pi last year. Both are thrilling 3-D dramasof survival in a hostile environment, testaments to human grit and groundbreaking technical ingenuity. Like Pi, Gravity deserves to be seen once for the wow factor and a second time to try to figure out how Cuarn and his technical savantsmanaged to make the impossible seem so cinematically plausible. No one dared even to imagine this before, yet here it is, vividly and sumptuously realized.

Pi, youll recall, was alone on a small boat in the stormy Pacific, his only companion a ravenous Bengal tiger. Bullocks Ryan soon becomes stranded in spaceno air, no sound, no connection to Mission Controlwith the dreamiest guy in the universe. So it could be worse.

Having served on shuttle flights since 1996, Matt is the bantering veteran, Ryan the novice: old cop, young cop. Earlier, he had transmitted a creepy, Apollo 13 joke: Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission. But he also wants to reassure Ryan. Youre the genius up here, this Buzz Lightyear tells the Dr. Newbie.I only drive the bus. And he hopes she can enjoy the spectacle of being 372 miles above her shimmering home. As he rightly says, Cant beat the view.

While Ryan works at fixing a glitch on the space stations jutting metal arms, a voice back in Houston (Ed Harris, himself a movie astronaut 30 years ago in TheRight Stuff) announces, Mission abort. Debris from an exploded Russian satellite is headed their way, and as bright chunks fly past, Matt still jokes, Half of North America just lost their Facebook. The laughter turns to terror when the restof Matt and Ryans crew is killed. The space-station arm jerks lose, and Ryan spins wildly around, finally catching Matts arm. Now they are tethered in a literallydeath-defying Cirque du Soleil bungee routine. They have lost contact with Mission Control as well as access to their oxygen supply. Theyre alone together, withtime and options running out.

7/27/2019 Gravity The Glory of Cinemas Future

2/3

This amazing 13-minute sequence at the very beginning of Gravity is shown as asingle shot. To say this is a marvel of camerabatics, of choreography and animation, is to undersell both the athletic and behavioral dexterity of Clooney and Bullock, who worked on wires in front of a green screen, and the artistry of Cuarns enablers, led by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki (a veteran of four other

Cuarn features) and visual-effects wizard Tim Webber. The opening sequence is the most eye-catching, but keep watch for two other 10-minute-plus shots; allthree of these bravura scenes use visual elements created over several years. Asthe director told Entertainment Weeklys Jess Cagle, Each single bit of film is a different technology.

(SEE: The Gravity trailer, with a section of the opening sequence)

Beyond technology, Cuarn plays daringly and dexterously with point of view: atone moment youre inside Ryans helmet as she surveys the bleak silence; then in a subtle shift, youre outside to gauge her reaction. The 3-D effects, added in p

ostproduction, provide their own extraterrestrial startle: a hailstorm of debris hurtles at you. In sheer storytelling terms, Cuarn is the bedtime spellbinder whotakes the child inside every moviegoer on a nail-gnawing spaceflight and into a space travelers dread at feeling alone in the universe.

In the Mexican directors globe-trotting filmography (A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y Tu Mam Tambin, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Children of Men), the film frame is usually crowded with agitated bodies. Gravity goesthe other way, stripping movie drama to its essential: solitary figures in mortal distress. In this it resembles Life of Pi and J.C. Chandors All Is Lost (showing nextweek at the New York Film Festival before opening in theaters Oct. 18), which m

anages the audacious narrative trick of stranding sailor Robert Redford with neither words nor backstory. These are stories of self-reliance, of finding ways to survive and a reason to live.

(WARNING: ENTERING EXTREMELY-OBLIQUE-SPOILER ZONE) When Ryan reaches a Russian space station and sheds her astronaut gear until shes down to Ripleys undies in Alien, she completes the metaphor of the first scenesslowly revolving, eyes closed, she assumes the fetal position: a child waiting to be born or die. At the end of the movie, an ancient astronaut emerges from the sea, as if to r

ecapitulate the evolution of humankind from sea creature. (END OF TORTUOUSLY VEILED SPOILER.)

Some movies take forever to make. Gravity, which Cuarn wrote with his son Jons, got going soon after the director finished Children of Men in 2006 and wentthrough two studios and more than a dozen actors for the main roles. Robert Downey Jr., was set to play Matt but dropped out in 2011, allowing Clooney to bring his nonpareil charm, bravado and maturity to the role. Cuarn offered the R

7/27/2019 Gravity The Glory of Cinemas Future

3/3

yan part to Angelina Jolie, twice, and then to Natalie Portman, Jennifer Lopez, Rachel Weisz, Marion Cotillard, Carey Mulligan, Blake Lively, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wildeeverybody. When these actresses see what Bullock has been given inthe role and the fiery commitment she invests in it, they should all whisper a sincere, Rick Perrystyle oops.

(READ: Astronaut Martha Ivins on Why Gravity Gets Her Down)

Making his first digital movie after a career using filmremember when movieswere films?Cuarn has propelled the ascent of serious entertainment into thetechnological stratosphere. It continues the arc of Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Life of Pi, each outdoing its predecessor in the filmmakers eternalquest to astonish us, each blending digital technology and human artistry. In depicting the fearful, beautiful reality of the space world above our world, Gravityreveals the glory of cinemas future; it thrills on so many levels. And because Cuarn is a movie visionary of the highest order, you truly cant beat the view.