A science fiction movie has never won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Cultural landmarks such as “Star Wars” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” lost to more personalized narratives about the complicated art of love and the teachings of a philosophical leader.
Where more recent unsuccessful nominees “District 9” and “Avatar” established their underlying purposes to be thematically driven lessons of kindness to others, vying for the humanitarian consideration of other minds (both human and alien), “Gravity” is barely able to do the same. It is a story of two astronauts, troubled in the empty expanse beyond the earth’s atmosphere, with very little to rely on.
And yet, “Gravity” both implores and explores on a higher scale than any movie this year so far, creating an emotionally distressing tale in one of the most frightening settings ever depicted on film, and is a convincing candidate to finally end the Oscar losing streak.
Director Alfonso Cuarón’s first feature since 2006’s “Children of Men” stars Sandra Bullock in a devastatingly powerful role as Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer on her first space mission, alongside George Clooney as Matt Kowalski, a playful astronaut on his last space mission.
While Bullock performs with the serious, independent demeanor that has gotten her praise in the last few years, Clooney acts as a very effective George Clooney – an appealing, witty colleague who can solidify any friendship through his personality. It works handsomely.
On a spacewalk outside their shuttle, debris from a Russian satellite careens around the planet toward them in the form of speeding scrap bullets. The peaceful, serene scene above Earth is brutally transformed into any aspiring astronaut’s worst nightmare, a harrowing 13-minute opening scene that leaves the audience with a sense of tense shock and mouth-gaping awe just after they were beginning to get comfortable.
In an increasingly thrilling manner, the two unfortunate souls have to survive in the hopelessly foreboding environment while making their way to safety. Bullock and Clooney play off each other very well, different personalities making the best of what they have to rely on.
But they are not the only figures of the film – the big blue marble looming in the background provides as much character as either actor, providing a purpose to their fraught mission, a home to look down upon. In every scene of the masterfully directed work, Cuarón depicts an enormous, seemingly still planet as the only object in an endlessly empty vastness.
The effects and techniques used to create the setting of an indescribably open abyss is nothing short of breathtaking – a seamless mix of live action shots and computer-generated animation feed a consistent question as to how any of it was filmed. Cuarón’s cinematography partner Emmanuel Lubezki outdoes all of his previously acclaimed work with signature long duration shots that flow from one chaotic scene to the next with perfected transition.
With a Kubrick-inspired understanding of his playground, Cuarón follows up scenes of terrifying desperation with external shots of immediate silence. There isn’t a moment from the film’s beginning to end that does not have passionately eloquent storytelling in the foreground, and a bleak, subtly turning orb behind it.
Cuarón’s career of experimenting with genres and thematic purpose culminates in this generation’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” a film with an incredible amount of depth, both metaphorically and physically. The IMAX and 3D visuals continue the recent growth of the format’s technical achievements with overwhelming improvement, leaving any non-3D format of the film to seem disparagingly wasteful.
The message behind “Gravity,” as its name implies, attempts to be down to earth. Its actors depict the dramatic desperation of humans fighting for their lives in a more impressive manner than nearly any theatrical performances in recent memory. But the setting, one depicted in countless fantastical tales since filmmaking began, feels new and refreshing, a feat accomplished with the culmination of enough charisma and beautifully realized caliber to produce a project whose quality is, quite literally, out of this world.