Once in a while, there is a rare film that not only provides breathtaking visuals, an expertly crafted script, and a story that delves into many complex themes but also holds a casual audience members attention with ease.
And this year movie goers have been lucky enough to receive a film that can, not only, boast to feature all of those qualities but so much more, in Gravity.
The film follows an astronaut who suddenly finds herself cutoff from everyone else and must attempt to find her way to safety. Leading up to my first viewing of the film, I was constantly questioning how a film could be carried with such a concept, especially if it only featured one character. I was willing to believe it could work, however, simply due to 2010’s Buried — which succeeded in providing the audience with a gripping film based on a similarly difficult premise.
Buried, however, pales in comparison to the majesty that is Gravity.
It is a film that explores themes of suffering, loss, struggle and the innate human will to survive without ever feeling overwhelming to someone who has no interest in trying to analyze a film for such themes. Gravity’s writing ability doesn’t cease to astound once you look past its underlying meaning, however.
It is also such a well crafted script, you end up forgetting how it unconventionally features just one character. It keeps you on the edge of your seat with so few major events occurring and some of the moments that feature the greatest amount of tension occur when the main character is performing the simple task of trying to open a door in the terrifyingly claustrophobic silence of space.
In any other film, such little action would bore an audience member, but thanks to excellent pacing and sharp directing, there isn’t a moment of the film that seems to drag or hamper what is, without question, the best movie to be released in mainstream theaters this year.
