WORDS: Kieran McNulty
Gravity, out next week, is easily the best film I have seen all year. It boasts some of the most eye-catching visuals of this or any other year. It easily trumps any action blockbuster for tension and immersion. Aside from its technical brilliance, it features just two actors who deliver some of their best work. The role of a cheery veteran commander isn’t a huge stretch for George Clooney but Sandra Bullock’s interpretation of newbie Ryan Stone, a tortured soul to say the least, is a genius performance. The film should deservedly generate some serious Oscar buzz. The opening scene is the film’s forté and worthy of particular attention.
“Life in space is impossible,” the beginning of Gravity tells us, before a whoosh of noise and the title card. The opening scene of the film certainly goes on to prove that, in a staggering single sixteen minute shot in which we follow just one camera through the exotic, intriguing and utterly alien vacuum that is space. It’s a thrilling and fantastic opening, easily displaying the adrenaline rush to all the senses that Gravity is.
It begins with Gravity’s best asset: a shot of the Earth, a vista that constantly changes throughout the ninety minute running time. We hear some radio chatter and then glimpse a shuttle which moves slowly towards us. We move in to see Matt Kowalski (Clooney) on his jetpack trading quips with Heuston. The camera zooms and dips around the shuttle, letting us hear the voice of another astronaut. The scene is thoroughly efficient here — it introduces us to the daily work of the astronauts, lets us know that they’re nearly finished their mission and establishes the dynamic between the two central characters, who at this point aren’t all too familiar with each other. The film does this while displaying some entirely dazzling vistas. The lone, silent camera, never cutting, gives us a sense of the emptiness of space. It is slow and quiet.
Then of course, all hell breaks loose.
The jovial chatter from Heuston gives way to dire warnings and shouts. Kowalski panics and shouts to Stone to finish her work. Stone, ever the perfectionist, cannot stop her work quickly enough. Some small debris comes flying past. The music ramps up, and chaos ensues. The camera moves back, capturing all the destruction and insanity. There’s a death and a floating body. Communication is lost. The extension Stone is attached to begins spinning around in front of the camera, like a demented fairground ride. It spins loose and Stone detaches herself, the camera zooming in just close enough to show her struggle with the buckle. She detaches and is swung back into space, spinning into a void. The image is stark. This continues for ten seconds. It has stayed in my retinas and will do so for days. It is only then that the shot is over, totalling sixteen and a half minutes without cutting or switching viewpoint.
The filmmakers have spoken of the arduous preparation involved in filming this scene. Bullock speaks of the rhythm that went into the scene. Virtual cameras had to be made. The actors couldn’t be put on wires due to the stress that would show on their faces after a few minutes. Pre-Visualization magic was employed and the actors were digitally painted into the suits. You shouldn’t notice much trickery however. The scene is ground-breaking, it’s perhaps the most immersive opening of any film ever. Life in space may be impossible, but due to Gravity’s arresting opening, feeling like you’re in it isn’t.
