Gravity (2013)

If you turn to Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuarón) in the hopes of a good science fiction film, you are, I guess, bound to be let down. This is not science fiction, this is a metaphor. Gravity will not deliver a meticulous account of the life of an astronaut. But what if you accept the level of metaphor? Well, as a human drama, Gravity contains a lot of clunky bits and parts and well some of it is even a bit embarrassing - a slow-motioned drizzle of tears in zero gravity.... But still, for all that, I found the film extremely entertaining to watch (maybe it has to do with how rarely I watch films with a lot of suspense moments?): it was absorbing, and I was surprised to what extent I was drawn in. Some people have pointed out that it lacks cynicism, and I think they are right about that: it's a film about fear and loneliness and that kind of stuff. Without the big screen of the movie theater, it would not work, but in the darkness in front of the huge screen, it did. The images, they do the trick. You actually, despite the inaccuracies and the psychological trinkets, get a feeling of being up there, in space, in zero gravity, looking at planets. When I got out of the cinema, I had a weird sensation, a strange displacement - I was no longer in the familiar streets looking at drunk kids on a Saturday evening; I was walking on a planet. Normally, I can't stand George Clooney or Sandra Bullock as actors - here, well, they were pretty ok, within their very restricted roles. Clooney was the cheering, genial optimist and Bullock the rugged loner. Most of the time, these two, who are the only characters of these film, occupy themselves with floating around in space or trying to get into space stations (curiously, space stations are located within walking distance, practical right?). But they did not save Gravity from the kingdom of insufferable cheese, the overwhelming images did, and the way sound and silence were used. Few films build up that kind of atmosphere, and I don't care whether its 'realistic' or not.