GRAVITY (2013) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

gravity (2013) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   91 minutes

Released         |   3 October 2013 

cast

Sandra Bullock ... Ryan Stone
George Clooney ... Matt Kowalski
Ed Harris ... Mission Control (voice)
Orto Ignatiussen ... Aningaaq (voice)
Phaldut Sharma ... Shariff (voice)
Amy Warren ... Explorer Captain (voice)
​Basher Savage ... Russian Space Station Captain (voice)

director

​Alfonso Cuarón

writer

Alfonso Cuarón ... (written by) &
Jonás Cuarón ... (written by)

cinematographer

​Emmanuel Lubezki ... director of photography

music

​Steven Price

film editor

Alfonso Cuarón
Mark Sanger

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​​​​​​723,192,705

Australia                 $​​​​​​​19,580,599

North America       $​​​274,092,705

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movie minutiae

​Alfonso Cuarón, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and visual effects supervisor Tim Webber decided they couldn't make the film they wanted using traditional methods. For the space-walk scenes, says Webber, "We decided to shoot (the actors') faces and create everything else digitally." To do that, Lubezki decided he needed to light the actors' faces to match the all-digital environment. Whether the characters were floating gently, changing direction or tumbling in vacuum, the facial light would need to perfectly match Earth, Sol and the other stars in the background. "That can break easily," explains Lubezki, "if the light is not moving at the speed that it has to move, if the position of the light is not right, if the contrast or density on the faces is wrong." Lubezki suggested folding an L.E.D. screen into a box, putting the actor inside, and using the light from the screen to light the actor. That way, rather than moving either Sandra Bullock or George Clooney in the middle of static lights, the projected image could move while they stayed still. The "light box", key to the space-walk scenes was a nine-foot cube just big enough for one actor.

​Before filming began, the entire film was made and rendered, frame-by-frame, without lighting using basic digital models; when Alfonso Cuarón approached the producers and they suggested changes, Cuarón told them "no; this is exactly what the film will look like."

The film is second only to CABARET (1972) to receive the most Academy Awards without winning Best Picture.

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related movies

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

GRAVITY (2013) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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GRAVITY (2013) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Sandra Bullock and George Clooney star in this heart-pounding thriller written, set in the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space.

Bullock plays a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with Clooney as a veteran astronaut in command of his last flight before retiring.

​But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving the two completely alone -- tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth...and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. But the only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.

GRAVITY (2013) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 3 October 2013

​​Pop Movee Rating

GRAVITY is a great film. It’s a simple story that relies on the audience’s knowledge and acceptance of how space travel exists today. It uses the audience’s acceptance of the environment, just above the Earth’s atmosphere, to place a seemingly ordinary person, Sandra Bullock’s character of Ryan Stone, in a set of circumstances so extraordinary that the audience feels genuine exhaustion in much the same way Bullock’s character does.

Herein lies the success of GRAVITY's story-telling. Alfonso Cuaron, who co-wrote the film with his son Jonas, has crafted a movie that makes the audience feel as though they are participants, not just spectators.

​Alfonso Cuaron teamed up with his son Jonas to write the story, but initially found it difficult to convince a studio to help them commit to a distribution deal for the finished film. Universal originally optioned the project, but the film's producers placed it into turnaround when Warner Bros showed interest in the distribution.

In addition to the distribution challenges, a number of high profile actors and actresses including Angelina Jolie, Robert Downey Jr., Marion Cotillard, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman were attached to the project between the beginning of 2010 and late November 2010. The production gained some much needed momentum in December 2010 when Sandra Bullock and George Clooney committed to the lead roles.

Bullock is effectively paired with George Clooney, who plays retiring Shuttle Commander Matt Kowalski. Both actors are really good and manage to convey so much emotion through their speech and breathing, as much of their time together is spent in their respective space suits. Bullock is especially good and will, without doubt, generate a lot of interest during the Hollywood upcoming awards season for her role.

It’s no coincidence that she spends the majority of the film insulated her space suit, as the character of Ryan Stone has largely withdrawn from the world because of a personal tragedy she has suffered. No other actors are seen during the movie; a third astronaut, the shuttle crew and Mission Control are only ever heard.

Bullock and Clooney are near flawless except for one scene at the beginning of the film’s final act that jars just a little bit more than it should at an important point in the film. Apart from this, the story unfolds in such a way that never feels forced. The danger facing Bullock and Clooney is real to them and they have a specific time-frame in which they must make their way from the crippled space shuttle to the International Space Station and, hopefully, back to Earth.

Technically, the film is almost flawless.

The film opens with a 13 minute uncut scene, which is already being hailed as one of the most beautiful ever committed to film. It is one of the longest single-tracking shots in the history of motion pictures and was the first scene of such a length filmed in 3D.

Alfonso Cuaron had already been quoted in the media, stating that he completely underestimated the task at hand:

"I have to say that I was a bit naïve; I thought making the film would be a lot simpler," stated the Director. "I knew it would require a certain amount of tricks, but it was not until we started trying conventional techniques that I realized in order to do the film the way I wanted to do it, we were going to have to create something entirely new."

GRAVITY is a film worth the additional investment into both a 3D and IMAX ticket. Unlike many big budget films, the addition of the 3D helps the viewer to completely immerse themself in the action on the screen.

There was, however, one distraction that occurred throughout the film. At certain points during the movie, the camera ‘bumps’ into different things that are floating about in the various space vessels seen throughout the film. This was distracting, as it occurred at a couple of points where the audience should be completely invested in what is happening to the characters but, instead, are distracted by a technical component of the film-making process. A small issue, but a distracting one.

An added benefit of GRAVITY is the running time.

At 91 minutes, the film doesn’t wear out its welcome. So many big-budget features now try and get as much as they can up on the screen for as long as possible. This trend has seen running times creep from 110 minutes in the mid-1980s up to 140 plus minutes today. Director Cuaron lets the film unfold in its own time and never lets the spectacle of the process overwhelm the objective of the story.

Jonas Cuaron, who co-wrote the story with his father, had this to say:

"The main idea my dad and I had when we wrote the script was to create a roller-coaster ride where the audience went through this emotional, non-stop journey," he states. "We tried to be as concise as possible."

Many will hail GRAVITY as the best science fiction film since 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

In many ways that’s true.

​GRAVITY is technically far superior to Kubrick’s masterpiece and has significantly more heart and soul with Bullock and Clooney. Cuaron’s film lacks the story scope and big-issue themes of 2001, but still manages to address the development of humanity in a different way. GRAVITY is a breath-takingly intimate film that shows the beauty of our planet and those who populate it.

GRAVITY (2013) USEFUL LINKS

Gravity (2013 film) - Wikipedia
​Gravity (2013) - IMDb
​Gravity (2013) - Rotten Tomatoes​

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