Hello Write Readers,
As you all are well aware at this point, I don’t do sad space movies (and really is there any other kind?) Sad space movies are on my list along with war movies and animal movies (including CGI animals, unless it’s Disney/Pixar, but not UP). There is something heart wrenching about space movies. At least one person always dies (but usually far more), there is that vast, sucking emptiness thing, and generally, nothing good happens to anyone except that lone individual who makes it home okay. Which isn’t to say that all space movies are the same, because Star Wars are technically space movies, but you know what I mean. (Grammatically that was a fragment, but most of these reviews are rather stream-of-consciousness, so all of the English teachers reading this please forgive me, and feel free to print my articles and give them to your students so they can find all of my mistakes.) In my mind, Star Wars is an ACTION space movie, as opposed to Armageddon, which is a drama space movie.
But I digress.
So when Gravity came out, I said to myself as well as out loud during the preview, “No way. I’m not seeing that.” And then when Sandra Bullock’s performance was well reviewed, my heart started to sink. By mid-November, it became clear that Gravity was a shoe-in for an Oscar nom of some kind. And I began to steal myself for the inevitable- watching a sad space movie.
So I went. And I cried. Trust me, if you cry at movies, you can’t not cry. (Double negative, I’m sorry!) I was depressed for days after, and I came away with some valuable information. Are you ready? Here it is.
Sandra Bullock can ACT! Sandra Bullock can act WELL! Before I devolve into a long and passionate explanation of the magic of Sandra Bullock, for those of you who didn’t notice any of the hype surrounding this movie, Gravity is a beautiful and SAD film about Dr. Ryan Stone who ends up trapped alone in space, attempting to get home. A whole bunch of very sad, horrible, terrible things occur throughout this surprisingly short film directed and co-written by Alfonso Cuaron (it’s only 91 minutes, y’all, which is refreshing). Gravity is nominated for Best Picture (as I’m sure you gathered), Best Visual Effects, and Best Cinematography, and Bullock is nominated for Best Actress. Although technically George Clooney co-stars, given how little time he spends in the movie (well it felt short, but I didn’t time him) I didn’t really notice the co-starring part. That in itself was surprising, given that the loveliness of Rosemary Clooney’s nephew usually distracts me from everything else happening in movies/ER.
This film is sparsely populated, which is an excellent to the sparsely populated, soul-sucking SPACE that the film is set in. It’s all rather fitting. But compared to some of the other heavy-weight champions in this Oscar race, the film is downright empty. We see Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, and hear some voices, like the recognizable Ed Harris as command from Earth. And that’s basically it. Sandra Bullock, acting with space. (As in, Space is her acting partner.) And she is stunning. When I was not crying, it was hard to get over how unbelievably good she was at acting in a vacuum! There was no scene partner, only her in one endless monologue of trying to not die. I couldn’t believe it. Were I currently teaching high school or college age drama students, we would surely be watching this movie; possibly during the Shakespeare unit. (My thoughts on how this film would help students with soliloquy are complex, please ask me about them via email or in the comments.)
The other person in the film, George Clooney gives a typically Clooney-esque performance. He just gets to play himself on screen (or the man I would assume to be “himself”, given how many times we’ve seen him play this character). And he was wonderful at it. He was funny, and charming, and really cavalier about the possibility of his own death, which was equally heartbreaking and beautiful. He was exactly the counterpart to the soul-suckingness of space that the audience needed to not feel shattered at the end of the movie.
Let’s talk about Space. Space, the scene partner, was beautiful. This is a film to see in IMAX. It is gloriously designed, and incredibly realistic. Normally I’m not a fan of 3D anything, and if you recall my review about Life of Pi, I mentioned the gratuitous use of 3D filming. But in this case, the 3D was worth the extra $5.00. (And I kept my glasses, so that was a win.) Astronaut Buzz Aldrin said, “I was so extravagantly impressed by the portrayal of the reality of zero gravity. Going through the space station was done just the way that I’ve seen people do it in reality. The spinning is going to happen—maybe not quite that vigorous—but certainly we’ve been fortunate that people haven’t been in those situations yet. I think it reminds us that there really are hazards in the space business, especially in activities outside the spacecraft.” He said the visual effects were “remarkable.” And obviously he would know. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki has much to be proud of.
All in all, I contend this is the saddest and most worthwhile film of 2013. It was a beautiful use of technology, and perhaps the best acting (that I’ve seen) of Sandra Bullock’s career. I give it many, many thumbs up, and I’m hoping Bullock takes home the Oscar for Best Actress. Clearly Meryl doesn’t need another one. I don’t know if it will take Best Picture, because there are a number of excellent films up for it, but I think it has as strong a chance as any.
Live, Love, Learn,