Many audiences have compared Alfonso Cuaron’s “Gravity” to the indie horror film “Open Water.” And in many ways that comparison is perfectly apt. Much in the way the aforementioned film sought out to provide audiences with a feeling of aimlessness, sea sickness, and a futile fight for survival, “Gravity” strips away any feeling of equilibrium or safety from the very second it begins. The safety being, of course, gravity. The characters within the scope of the film are engaging in a space walk and have nothing but a tether to keep them tied to their ship. When that option is gone, there’s nothing we can do but submit to the void of space and let fate take hold.
Sandra Bullock provides a very good performance as Dr. Ryan Stone, a medical engineer tasked with her first space walk alongside experienced astronaut Matt Kowalski. What’s very admirable about Kowalski’s character is that though George Clooney plays the hero who approaches the disaster with an eerie calmness, Clooney is barely front and center in the film. Definitely he plays a key role, but Clooney never outshines any of the film’s attempts to bring audiences in to this journey for survival. Even Bullock herself is fairly low key, as the doctor whose anxiety is ever present as she hovers in space. After space debris hits the Explorer and the Hubble, Ryan and Matt are launched in to space, and wage a virtual battle for survival against the forces of momentum, motion, and zero gravity, that make their drift in to the darkness absolutely terrifying.
The crash transforms immediately in to an uphill fight that Ryan struggles to overcome, especially in the light of the death of her daughter, and she must figure out how to maintain her sanity as she finds herself adrift and without contact to Earth. Director Cuaron is very skilled at completely destroying any sense of control the characters and the audience have on the fate of the characters by destroying the common ideas of the environment the characters inhabit. When the debris hit their ship in an horrific explosion, they’re instantly thrown out in to space and without any control over their orbit, allowing for a dizzying endurance test. Cuaron relinquishes all ideas of direction and dimension, leaving the audience clenching their seats, and praying for some hope as Matt and Ryan battle with a weak tether that can hopefully guide them to some safe haven.
Director Cuaron masterfully composes this simple yet effective tale, zeroing in on Ryan who has to figure out a way home, and finds nothing but death and desolation. Cuaron then plays audiences perceptions when Ryan is forced to deal with the death of her daughter, an even she’s yet to come to terms with, all the while being given signs all around her that guide her in hopefully returning home. What director Cuaron asks audiences to ponder on is that if Ryan is receiving messages and help from an after life, or if her lack of oxygen and stressed has managed to unlock some innate will to fight tooth and nail for her life. It’s up to audiences to interpret, and no matter how you decide to view the entirety of the narrative, it’s still a beautiful, often amazing film, with a harrowing story and top notch performances. What could easily have been a dull practice in CGI is crafted by Alfonso Cuaron in to a journey for survival and learning how to cherish life; I loved it from start to finish and look forward to watching it again.