Wednesday, November 20, 2013

gravity

I have just finished watching Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity for the second time.

It's strange, because when I say 'just' I refer to 2.25pm - 4.10pm, yet the film is fresh in my head. The time is 1:07am (blog timings displayed are sometimes wrong).
Even as I type this, I'm listening to its score.

It is a movie that has taken me beyond any movie experience. Standing on the shoulders of stunning visuals, amazing cinematography and convincing soundscape, is a story of chaos and beauty, simplicity and magnificence, and hope in futility. Human strength in human love. 


It not only draws us to our existence; it leaves us feeling over-exposed to our very human condition. One cannot help but feel insignificant, and humbled in the presence - which the movie simulates very well - of the depths of space but moreover, in the face of earth's wonder, as seen from above. 

Sandra Bullock's performance is outstanding. Passion, grief, fear, hope, despair, anger, and love are fleshed out in her reactions to everything around her so realistically - I am so thankful that Cuarón is the visionary that he is, to be able to realise that the cosmos was an ultimate platform to allow such basic human experiences to develop so masterfully. 

Admittedly I might be giving Gravity undue credit because I've always had a childlike obsession with outer space. Yet it is this same obsession that has always left me and other blockbusters like Star Trek or Prometheus ending on a sour note. Gravity is the closest film to giving the galaxies the credit they are due, rather than brashly smearing some sci-fi lasers all over them.

It makes me re-think adventure, exploration, and even my own passions. 



I am utterly awed by the sheer amount of depth in every aspect of this film.

Thank you Cuarón.