The crew of the shuttle “Explorer” is in orbit, adjusting the Hubble telescope and conducting other experiments in space. A sudden catastrophe – a collision with a cloud of space debris – turns a technical mission into a fight for survival. Two astronauts, tethered together, find themselves completely alone, without communication with Earth and no hope of rescue. Oxygen and fuel are running out, and the only chance to return home alive is about to disappear if the descent module burns up in the upper atmosphere.
In essence, “Gravity” is a straightforward film. There’s no shortage of stories about people in hopeless situations, seeking a way to escape and desperately clinging to life. They differ only in the setting, the number of characters, and the presence or absence of a happy ending. And the “gravity” mentioned in the title is the main connecting force of the film; Alfonso Cuarón keeps it quite simple here as well.
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The work on the film resulted in several inventions: a special 12-strap construction to simulate free flight, a light cube to recreate natural lighting, and even a virtual space station.
Duality in Space
Director Alfonso Cuarón and his son, screenwriter Jonás Cuarón, see the world as dualistic, and this is demonstrated in the film with deliberate effort. This duality both closely connects two poles and repels them from each other. The serene silence and beauty of space are contrasted with the inevitable danger that constantly pursues the astronauts. A man’s calculating view of the circumstances is juxtaposed with a woman’s emotionality, impulsiveness, and dreaminess. Even death, constantly looming somewhere in sight, clashes with new life – Bullock’s character remembers her own child, then portrays an embryo in zero gravity, and suddenly hears the crying of a newborn through radio signal interference. And all this is boldly displayed by Cuarón in the front window. Looking for a reason for deep analysis? Here they all are, the depths, in the palm of your hand.
If the film consisted only of these simple duels between two sides of the same coin, it wouldn’t be worth talking about for long, but this picture is strong primarily due to its visual aspect. What Cuarón, cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, and the actors have created on screen simply defies any verbal description. It’s a true attraction of unprecedented beauty.
Bullock’s Russian space suit is “real,” made of fabric and plastic, while the American suits had to be computer-generated.
A Visual Spectacle
Rare things are almost impossible to describe in words – music, architecture, some layers of art. There are definitions and clichés for all of this, as there are for the word “flight.” It’s not difficult to understand its meaning, but it’s difficult to describe in words. When the film envelops you from the very beginning with a 17-minute scene of flight in space without a single montage cut, it’s not just top-notch filmmaking. It’s some unimaginable level of fantasy and skill demonstrated by the creators of the film. If most of even the most sophisticated special effects in cinema can at least be imagined how they are done, with “Gravity” you just have to watch, gaping, without the slightest idea how this could be filmed in a studio, and not in outer space. If you are told about ropes and lines on which the actors supposedly fly, or computer models generated by animators – take a closer look, you will not find the slightest flaw and only further immerse yourself in the depths of misunderstanding the principles of implementing such filming. Of course, there will be specialists pointing out flaws in physics or the design of spacecraft, but for a viewer whose familiarity with space is limited to movies and books, there is no better attraction with a full immersion effect. Space is right here, on the big screens of multiplexes.
Stellar Performances
But don’t let such an extensive description of the beauty of special effects scare you; there was also room for excellent acting in the film. Sandra Bullock had to spend almost the entire film alone, and this one-actor show was as successful as one could expect from a Hollywood actress. She holds the audience’s attention no worse than magnificent cosmic views or large-scale space collisions. At the same time, a separate round of applause is deserved for the dubbing – the film plays with nuances of intonation in conversations, monologues, and even just heartbeats and breathing – the Russian localization here is beyond praise.
If any of the films of recent years deserves the hackneyed phrase “Better to see once than hear a hundred times,” then “Gravity” should be at the top of this list. Space has always placed the highest demands on creators, whether they are designers, artists, or writers, and overcoming this gravity has always yielded delightful results. Cuarón overcame the attraction of Earth and the earthly to the delight of the audience.