Matt Kowalski: What do you like the most about this place?
Dr. Ryan Stone: Silence
Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris
I watched this film a month ago with my buddy and I must say it’s great to catch this amidst my busy schedule! What more, I had the chance to watch it free because my friend had free movie voucher!
If you are going to watch this film, you are in for something special. Not only does it has a spectacular visual of the space and universe, this film is based on very simple premise for its storyline but yet it came across as a storyline with depth which was able to engage me emotionally.
Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is a medical engineer on her first shuttle mission with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone.
This film reminds me of how significantly insignificant is us, the human. We’re just a tiny dot compared to the universe. Whenever Stone or Kowalski look across the magnificent blue earth from space, I can imagined the hustling and bustling of human’s life on earth in stark contrast to the silent enormous space, seemingly insignificant.
As a science-fi thriller, Gravity has its thrilling moment which keeps me excited throughout with what’s going to happen to Stone next. But after watching the whole movie, the selling point of Gravity to me is actually the emotional transformation which the character, Ryan Stone went through in the film. The despair, loneliness and struggle faced by Stone are coupled beautifully with the space setting and the space disaster storyline.
Matt Kowalski: How about you Ryan, you have anybody down there, looking up in the sky waiting for you to come home?
And the best scene in Gravity is the scene where Stone is in the Russian space capsule making radio contact with someone on earth. It’s so heart wrenching to watch when the sounds of ‘life’ (dogs’ bark and baby’s sound) which we took for granted in our daily life is so important to Stone when she’s reaching the end of her life. The rich symbolism in the film also add so much texture to Gravity’s story. Stone floating in a fetal position, the religion statue and the ending scene are all so beautiful and meaningful.
”umbilical cord’
and if you’re interested, here’s the companion short film spin off to the dog barking scene: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gravity-spinoff-watch-side-sandra-657919
Overall, I think Gravity is something more than the usual thriller. Everything of it is based on simple premise, with just 90 minutes of runtime, minimal cast and a straight forward plot but yet it can produce something so profound.
Note: A lot of critics are full of praise of watching Gravity in 3D. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to watch it in 3D. (but I did get that it was made for 3D when watching). So share with me your Gravity experience if you watch it in 3D and hopefully, I can rewatch it in 3D next time!
F i l m sation 