Went to see Gravity last evening, the new film by Alfonso Cuarón.
A stunner. Or, as young people might say, fucking awesome.
Groundbreaking cinema of the first order, perhaps the best sci-fi adventure since Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 Oscar winner, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Except, this time around, Cuarón’s Gravity grabs you by the lapels, and leaves you on the edge of your seat from near beginning to end, rooting for astronauts Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) to survive their catastrophic encounter with wanton space debris.
Gravity is not a chilly film. From the first time Cuarón’s camera pulls a close-up on Bullock, you’re pulled in, your eyes welling with tears. Bullock’s is a performance for the ages, come Sunday, March 2nd, 2014, an absolute Best Actress Oscar lock at the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
Although VanRamblings has seen thousands of films over the past 60 years, never ever, ever before have we seen a film that loves its star as much as Gravity loves Sandra Bullock, with her almond eyes, just too big nose, stunningly sexy body, and those eyes, migawd those sensitive eyes.
Sandra Bullock isn’t acting in Gravity, this a raw, emotional, intimate reveal of Sandra Bullock the person, on screen, more naked and vulnerable, tougher and stronger and smarter than you’ve ever seen her before.
Once you learn Dr. Ryan Stone’s backstory, you’re pulled in so far, so deep, your heart held so firmly in her grasp that every breath she takes is your breath, Bullock giving you life, as you give her life.
Gravity is immersive, human-scale tour-de-force filmmaking, a film for the ages, a film of such grand import and pop culture resonance that we’ll be talking about Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity — an unusually gripping and utterly original work of art — for generations to come. Must-see moviemaking.
When you take in a screening of Gravity, make sure you do so under the best conditions. Gravity is not a film to cheap out on, a film that if you’re living in Vancouver can only truly be appreciated within the Scotiabank Theatre 3D-AVX Cinema 1, on the humungous screen, with full Dolby 7.1 surround sound. You won’t need popcorn, you’ll be riveted to the screen.
Here’s what some of the other film critics have to say …
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Gravity is mesmerizing, out of this world. Words can do little to convey the visual astonishment this space opera creates, a film whose impact must be experienced in 3-D on an IMAX theatrical screen to be fully understood.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Gravity, a weightless ballet and a cold-sweat nightmare, intimates mystery and profundity, with that mixture of beauty and terror that the Romantics called the sublime. A crowd-pleasing, near silent, minimalist blockbuster.
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
Gravity is a celebration of the primal pleasure of movies, a film that transports you out of the theatre and out of your head, close in spirit to Titanic, a startling, harrowing, impossibly shot giant-sized spectacle that hinges on two people floating on a piece of wood, clinging for their lives, Steven Price’s original score a critical complementary element to the film’s jaw-dropping visuals. Bullock is the film’s secret weapon, anchoring the film with a sadness and vulnerability she’s never played before, a revelation.
