"Gravity" by Alfonso Cuarón (Film Comment)

“But one thing I know for sure: It’s gonna be one helluva ride.”

“Gravity” is a science fiction 2013 film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. It is the story of an astronaut team that has an accident during the mission and they will try to survive and return to the Earth, but during that attempt they will have to go through misfortunes.

Through this adventure, there is a reflection about the sense of life and death, the importance of the family and about religion.

The last one is sometimes subtle, but it is quite visible, as some catholic icons are shown. Probably, it may signify that when someone has nothing in life, his only way to survive and remain alive is to believe in something, which is in this case God.

Alfonso Cuarón has some importance here as he is the director and he makes a good job, but in this case we should detach more than ever that it is a group work, because the visual FX specialists, for instance, have had to do a great effort to get the final result.

There are two main characters in the cast of “Gravity”, who are, as everybody knows, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. They both get a good result with their performance and they have been acclaimed by both the critic and the spectators.

However, in my opinion their work is not that essential because the screenplay does not really give them that importance. I mean that if it was only for their performances, the film would have something missing.

The 3D experience makes the film what it is, so it makes no sense to watch it 2D because you would miss a half of the real film or even more. There are many films about the space, but there are not so many space films in 3D, and, what is more, there is not any film as immersive as “Gravity”, which makes you feel weightless, just as the characters do. We can’t forget that the music carried out by Steven Price helps in that immersion.

That immersion makes us talk about feelings, because they are the most important thing in this film. One the one hand we have the feeling of emotion when you see the Earth from an unusual point of view, the sunrise, the aurora borealis, etcetera. On the other hand, there is a feeling of tension and suspense when the characters get into trouble.

There is no doubt that this films has already given to talk, and it will give to talk when the Academy Awards come, both if it gets any price and if it does not get any.

In the end, you will just gravitate towards the spatial experience and its characters. Probably, this interstellar film will conquer the Earth (if it hasn’t done it yet).

“You should see the sun shining on the Ganges. It’s amazing” Gravity

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